


Dreaming is Believing

by Madelief



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, nsfw later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-06-26 14:07:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15664725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madelief/pseuds/Madelief
Summary: Sara Ryder can't seem to catch a break. If she's not charging around reparing the Initiative leaders' mistakes, she's fixing everyone else's problems for them. The one light in her otherwise exhausting schedule is Dr Harry Carlyle, her newfound friend and confidante. Sara secretly wishes for more between them. But with so much pressure on the Andromeda Initiative to succeed, and with romance taking a back seat, has she left it too late to explore the undercurrent of attraction between her and the Hyperion's enigmatic doctor?





	1. The New Arrivals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamsindigital](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsindigital/gifts).



> For my dearest String. May this lighthearted tale of friendship and romance with our delectable silver fox Dr Carlyle give you some deserved relaxation and fluffy feels <3

Sara Ryder was tired. So very tired. Since becoming Pathfinder, absolutely no problem seemed to be resolvable unless she fixed it herself. A million and one stupid requests had kept her bogged down which she’d at first embraced as a good thing. Blocking all memory of Habitat 7 was currently her preferred modus operandi. If she focussed on the minutiae, the big stuff she could shunt to one side.

Like Scott surviving. Like saving humanity.

Irritated by her negativity, Sara tossed her head in annoyance. Doom and gloom didn’t suit her, deciding to switch instead to list the positives. She’d managed to escape for some alone time, the first since waking up after their disastrous encounter on the former golden world. She’d discovered two new, dedicated teammates in Cora and Liam. Her brother lived and would awaken. There was a world of possibility out there, far beyond anything the Milky Way had to offer.

And there was a certain doctor who’d caught her eye back on Earth. Sara was a sucker for an educated man with a wealth of lived experience behind him. She’d never had patience with men her age, always gravitating towards worldly, intelligent men beyond her generation, who exuded charisma, confidence and power. Nope, younger guys could never cut it. Especially not up against the enigmatic Dr Harry Carlyle.

Fantasising about a wild affair with Harry had occupied Sara’s time during the tedious wait to depart Earth. It was a phenomenon that had started the moment they’d been introduced, her father’s old comrade at arms spending evening after evening closeted at the Ryder residence, the senior leaders of the Andromeda Initiative planning for a departure that was final in so many senses of the word. She’d just not appreciated at the time how much.

With a sigh, she firmly wrenched her thought process away from the thoroughly distracting doctor, thinking back to her newly-formed team. As her mind idled, the stars floating lazily past, Sara pondered the possibility of merging the maverick Liam with Cora, who Sara secretly described as a square. If she did, she’d end up with the perfect second in command. One disciplined enough to hold the line when it mattered but daring enough to take risks in the face of insurmountable odds.

With a giggle, she started to formulate an image of a combined Cora and Liam in her…..

‘Care to share the joke?’

Harry was the last person she’d expected to seek her out in the upper chambers of the Hyperion. Sara didn’t turn at the deep voice materialising behind her, not trusting herself to as Harry came to stand next to her. Coraliamsupersoldierwiththemadblondehair disappeared in a trice, Sara forcing herself to focus on her surroundings rather than the man she’d been daydreaming about mere minutes before.

The observation deck on the Ark was quiet at this time of night, the reassuring hum of the engines reminding her that, for now at least, some form of sanity prevailed.

Except sanity had flown out of the window. This mad escapade from Earth, six centuries gone, her father dead, their dreams shattered. And yet, her treacherous heart skipped in erratic notes. After the week she’d had, any form of diversion from the gnawing sense of failure in the pit of her stomach was welcome.

‘Just something Liam mentioned earlier. What brings you here?’

‘The view.’ Sara became rooted to the spot at the hint of double meaning in his words, only to be deflated. ‘You’ve discovered my hiding spot away from the chaos of our arrival. I come here to remind myself of why we’re doing this. Andromeda is a unique, and spectacular, galaxy.’

‘It really is.’ She gripped hold of the railing tighter, willing the metal to magically permeate strength into sore muscles. ‘Even the Scourge looks pretty. Deadly, but pretty. Like those huge jellyfish things in the sea back home. What were they called?’

Clamping her lips forcibly shut, Sara hoped her inane ramble had gone unnoticed, or that Harry would at least put it down to extreme exhaustion. Which wouldn’t be a lie. She’d barely slept since the horrific welcome Andromeda had given them.

‘A Portuguese Man ‘O War? Not technically a jellyfish. A siphonophore, in fact, lots of organisms gathered together. They were at serious risk of overrunning the oceans in the 21st century before climate change was wrestled back under control and they boosted sea turtle populations.’ He shot her a questioning glance. ‘Thus ends boring lecture mode. You’ve an interesting definition of what’s pretty. Killer sea creatures resembling floating plastic bags?’

‘Well, someone has to love them,’ Sara muttered, hating how affected she was by his mere presence as she tried to save herself from her nonsense. ‘They’re all Nature’s creatures. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yada yada. Look at the Scourge. It’s no Venus Flytrap, but it’s still amazing. Pure jellyfish. Or siph…siphon…’

‘Siphonophore,’ Harry replied, correcting her stuttering as he looked at the toxic mass visible in the distance. ‘Your analogy is a good one. The Scourge is a mere trail of some kind of destruction, deadly stings that paralyze any ship caught in its tentacles. We were fortunate to escape.’

‘We were. Some welcome to our new home, huh? Death and destruction. Awesome to have travelled across deep space and found this shithole.’

The reminder of all Sara had lost put a damper on her wayward emotions, replaced by a spurt of rage. The loss of her father was still too new for her to make much sense of anything. Especially with the unwanted title of Pathfinder hanging round her neck like a veritable millstone. Since she’d survived the Habitat 7 disaster only a few short days ago, she’d been putting one foot in front of the other, focussed only on not ploughing everyone to their deaths in the hostile environment they’d found themselves in.

‘Your father did what he had to, his entire life. Misguided, perhaps, but he always acted out of a sense of what he believed was right. For the Alliance. For his family.’ Harry was watching her steadily, Sara refusing to look back and see the compassion she knew would be in his eyes. ‘He believed in you, Sara. Not just that – he loved you. When it actually mattered the most, he finally placed his children above all else.’

‘How long did you know dad for?’ Sara wasn’t prepared to address the fundamental points Harry had raised, desperate to deflect the conversation away from herself. ‘You served together for a while didn’t you?’

‘I didn’t know Alec that well, but I put some stitches in him on Shanxi during our time with the Second Fleet. I was a junior doctor back then, newly qualified. His career went…..interesting places and I stayed a humble clinician. We ran into each other fairly frequently as the years rolled past. One fight looks the same as another after a while. Same shit, different galaxy.’ Harry’s short laugh was resigned rather than sad. ‘The Kett? Alien technology hell bent on killing you? I’ve seen it all before. History loves repeating itself. I’m getting too old for this.’

Sara didn’t respond immediately, daring a peek at the man she ruefully acknowledged had been on her mind far more than she’d cared to admit. She might have been delirious at the time, but there had been no forgetting the power radiating from the hard, muscular body carrying her as they fled the golden world which was no more. He’d not put her down, even in the relative safety of the shuttle, shouting out commands and ordering their fractured forces around with an assurance only matched by her late father. Even Cora and Liam had jumped to his orders.

‘My advanced years amuse you?’

‘Far from it…what? No!’ She blinked and snapped out of her reverie, trying yet again to dig herself out of a hole. ‘You reminded me of that insane dash out of Habitat 7. Don’t give me that humble bullshit. Even Cora was intimidated by you. You’re a crack shot and I’d bet my last credit that you were a senior Alliance officer once. Where else did you serve?’

‘Here and there. The Milky Way is a big place. Does it matter?’ Harry grinned at her petulant sulk, eliciting a reluctant smile from her in return. ‘I’m teasing you, but it’s worth it to see that smile of yours appear again.’

‘Thanks, I think.’ Sara was grateful to the darkness hiding her flaming cheeks at the simple compliment. ‘So spill, seeing as you owe me one. How did a humble doctor morph into a soldier and officer an N7 would be jealous of?’

She wasn’t at all prepared for his answer.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, now we’re here. No need for secrecy between colleagues. I was transferred to the Seventh Fleet and stationed out by Eden Prime. Spent a few pleasant years patching up soldiers and colonists injured by pirate raiders. Then I was recalled back to the Fifth and Arcatus Station. I met Hackett there. We rose up the ranks together. Came across your dad again too. Hard not to, when there’s an N7 of his stature assigned to the Council and you’re the CMO of the Fleet.’

‘The….what?’ Sara stared at him in astonishment, the dual combination of lust and fatigue vanishing at such startling news. ‘You were the Chief Medical Officer for the entire Fifth Fleet? How did you keep that so quiet during preparations? What are you doing here, on the opposite side of deep space?’

‘We CMOs keep a low profile. So long as people are treated when they need to be and ready for active duty as soon as possible, no one bothers us too much. As to why I left?’ Harry’s gaze turned pensive as he faced the stars once more. ‘Got soft round the edges. I enjoyed frontier life. It’s what I joined the Alliance for, to explore new worlds, travel beyond the horizon. What happened? I ended up sat behind a desk, pushing paper around. In surgery once a week to keep my skills honed, too many kids playing at doctor hanging onto my every word while I fought political battles between admirals and wrestled with budgets that just never added up.’

A myriad of regrets played across Harry’s face as he recalled the universe they’d left behind. ‘There’s more to it though, than losing my boyhood ambitions of being the next Columbus. I’m a doctor. I’m here to preserve life. The Andromeda Initiative offered a unique opportunity to ensure I could carry out the oath I swore. Those attacks on the Citadel, our colonies….that was the precursor to something huge, Sara.’

‘Dad showed us. Thought it was important we witnessed the damage. That’s why he became so fixated on the AI research, trying to find an edge to combat those huge monsters. Or so he told us.’

Sara winced involuntarily as she recalled the damage Sovereign had wrought at the very heart of the Council itself. ‘It wasn’t just Saren, was it? Dad said there was a ship ten times the size of the biggest Turian dreadnought. It looked like a giant lobster crossed with a scorpion.’

‘You saw pictures of the Reaper too?’ Harry shook his head in resignation. ‘Shepard tried so hard to convince them and what did they do? Send her into the back and beyond to fight geth.’

‘Commander Shepard? The N7? First human Spectre?’ Sara silently scolded herself for the twinge of jealousy shooting through her chest at the admiration in Harry’s tone. ‘Dad used to mention her all the time. She was the one who passed him evidence of the Reapers. You know her?’

‘I didn’t just meet her, I worked with her. We were both arguing for the Council and Alliance top brass to do more after Sovereign’s attack, united in our intense mistrust of that rat Udina. She was also one of my patients for a brief time upon her return to the Alliance. Cerberus rebuilt her from the dead, or so they claim. Hackett ordered me to check that was all there was to it.’

His admiration turned begrudging. ‘I have to be grateful to those traitors for that, at least. They took the genetic engineering all us Alliance troops have undergone and pushed it to a level I’ve never experienced. Remarkable work, although I know the scientists involved and their ethics…..ah who am I kidding? To watch her walk down the gangway of the Normandy, hale and whole, and her usual acerbic self was extraordinary. We all make sacrifices. To bring Shepard back from the dead was worth every one.’

‘She did a lot for the Alliance, Dad said. And other races.’ Discussing the famed Commander Shepard, and Harry’s evident closeness to the formidable marine, did little to help Sara’s inferiority complex as she silently questioned exactly what the relationship between them had been. ‘I never believed a dedicated soldier like her would truly turn into a Cerberus creature. I bet she just used them. The reporting of that Al-Jilani woman belongs in the trash.’

‘So-called reporting. Shepard is….Shepard was unique. A true hero, even though she never wanted to be one.’

Harry’s voice broke slightly at the end, both he and Sara acutely aware the person under discussion was six hundred years dead. The hidden emotion in Harry’s voice Sara filed away, to torment herself with when she was alone and had the luxury of crying. She blinked, disoriented once more by the enormity of all they’d survived and all they’d left behind.

‘Six hundred years,’ she said, unable to hide her sorrow. ‘It’s so hard to adjust. For us it’s yesterday we were having beers, laughs, saying goodbye. You know what? It didn’t feel final, even when they sealed me in my cryopod. Now though, with Dad gone, Mom’s grave left on earth and Scott comatose still, it’s hitting home. They’re all gone, friends, colleagues. Old lovers. Even though they melted away pretty damned fast when dad was disgraced, they were alive. I had history, a sense of place. Now I have nothing and I’m struggling to adjust to the reality.’

‘I thought we’d all be together, discovering, meeting new races. Why did I think nothing would change in six hundred years? Man, I’m so fucking naïve.’ Sara’s hand gestured towards the huge emptiness of Andromeda, allowing her frustration free reign. ‘They’re not here. Only us. In a hostile system with nowhere to call home and no idea where the other Arks are. Is Nexus even going to be there? If it’s not, how am I, this nooby Pathfinder, going to get everyone home?’

‘It will be there, Sara. The beacon is active, the Hyperion is closing in. Heck, I’m struggling with the time shift, we all are. But don’t lose faith. We’ll make it, together. You’ll be an amazing Pathfinder. In fact, you already are.’

‘You’ve got that doctor voice on again, Harry.’ Sara tilted her chin in admonishment before wrapping her arms about herself, a vain attempt to ward off her inadvertent shivering. ‘I don’t need a shrink. I need a friend. But they’re all dead.’

This time the tremors were undisguisable as she stared out at the alien star systems before her. ‘Fuck, this is lonely, being out here. Strangely enough, one emotion I wasn’t prepared for.’

Sandalwood and bergamot mixed with the hint of old leather tingled her nose, Sara taken aback at the sudden, gentle caress of warm cloth against her neck. Harry silently draped his jacket over her, her lithe frame engulfed by the material. With a slight frown he pulled the edges together, adjusting the folds before letting his hands rest on her shoulders. The light touch of his fingers underneath her chin would have been enough to make her heart stop. When combined with the sincerity reflected in the hazel eyes forcing her gaze up, it was all Sara could do to remain upright.

‘You’ve got this, Pathfinder. By being you, it’s enough. It always will be.’ A slight smile lifted his lips, empathy etched over the strong lines of his face. ‘You’re one incredible package, Sara Ryder. Everyone knows it here, me included. If you need a friend, I’ll be that friend for you. You’ll not be lonely as long as I’m around.’

The two of them, alone in the dark and so intimately close, wound its own spell around her senses. Reaching out to her, as one human to another in this most isolated of universes, was far more personal than any fling on Earth would have been. It could have been the shock of losing her dad, of waking up in this inhospitable environment. It could have been her hallucinating from sleep deprivation. It could, and most probably was, wishful thinking. But she was certain an undefinable double meaning was caught up in Harry’s unspoken promise.

‘You keep boring on about your age.’ Not that it mattered, especially as Harry appeared far younger than she suspected he was. She had to blurt something out to stop herself from trembling – and this time for a far more pleasurable reason. ‘Am I going to find my new best friend six feet under just as I’m getting to know him?’

Her treacherous heart sang at Harry’s grin.  

‘Hah. I’m a way from having one foot in the grave. Besides, I was one of the first recipients of MarsGene’s next gen modifications. I’m just entering my prime.’ Sara could only nod in silent agreement, forcing herself to not feel too bereft as Harry stepped back. ‘You’re stuck with me for several decades yet.’

‘Because of the Alliance gene programme, well, age is irrelevant these days.’ The man before her was too tempting, her fractured heart badly in need of comfort. ‘At least I hope so. I’m interested in finding out if you are. Us Alliance peacekeepers need some stimulation while we’re waiting for the next assignment, you know.’

Sara had completely forgotten herself, lulled by the relaxed cloud of security she was floating on.

Right before praying Andromeda would swallow her whole.

She had just flirted with Harry Carlyle. At what had to be the most inopportune moment. Just because she’d secretly wanted to test the waters before their departure from Earth didn’t mean that now was the time to do so, right when they’d just been discussing the demise of their nearest and dearest. Kicking herself inwardly as she saw the flare of surprise Harry didn’t disguise fast enough, Sara gritted her teeth, intent on repairing the damage. Disappointment in herself seemed to be the running theme of the evening. She reached up, intending to return his coat before skulking back to her quarters burning with embarrassment.

‘Is that so? I’m sure I can find inventive ways to keep you stimulated. We can start with drinks, on me, as soon as we hit the Nexus. What’s your favourite meal? Or should I cook? Just the two of us, no distractions.’

Not the response she’d been expecting.

She could only gape at Harry’s cheerful laugh and knowing look, assuming she’d been joking. ‘It’s good to see you’re sense of humour is restored. It’s obvious who your commanding officer was, even if that Prothean ruin you were assigned to weren’t so famous. Coates always preferred his soldiers to face down fear with flippancy and jest. But watch out, Pathfinder. I might actually take you up on your offer one of these days, and then what would you do?’

Resisting the almost irresistible temptation to demand he name the exact place and time for their date, Sara instead allowed herself to be guided away from the seclusion of the observation deck. If he believed her reluctance to move too fast was down to fear then she was happy to play that game, relieved at the respite he’d allowed her. The sadness lingered, but her spirit was more buoyant than it had ever been since awakening in Andromeda.

For one glaringly obvious reason.

Sara was attractive, desirable, well aware of the impact of her sensuality on men. She’d even indulged in a few affairs. It was easy to recognise the unconscious flare in their eyes, the slight shift in their posture and body language which signalled a man’s interest. For all his years of playing the game, Dr Harry Carlyle had, for the most exhilarating of moments, betrayed himself and exhibited every single one.

She’d not meant to be so forward, horrified that she’d slipped up and wrecked a budding friendship. How fortunate for her she’d let instinct take over. It didn’t matter that he’d ruthlessly slammed the door of opportunity shut. For now, she allowed him to escort her back, to let friendly conversation take the lead while the flame of warmth pooling in her stomach grew. There were other matters that required her more immediate attention.

Harry Carlyle was interested in her. As a woman, not just as a friend. She’d waited six hundred years for a chance to explore the future with him. Sara was content to wait a few months more.


	2. From: Pathfinder Ryder

**To:** Dr Carlyle  
**From:** Pathfinder Ryder  
**Subject:** say hello to your new best friend

Just checking in. As you told me I should.

Anyway, we’ve set up a base on Eos and it’s viable for habitation now. You can start defrosting colonists. If Addison hasn’t told Tann where to stick it already.

Hope they’ve sorted out a bar on the Nexus. Things are going to get busy. Is it still a husk of a space station or is there actually life? Won’t be back for a while. I must track down more Arks and dip into the sewer which is Kadara. Avitus is helping us locate the Natanus. Maybe a few Angara will visit soon too. Perhaps things aren’t quite as dire as I expected in Andromeda.

Except for the Kett. Their Archon has a donut on his head. He infuriates me and makes me want to laugh at him all in one go before blowing his stupid donut off his stupid head. Quite the feat.

Tell Scott I said hi. And to wake up. Lazy sod.

Sara

Ps I have a game. Guess the film from the subject title. 20th and 21st century, I’m feeling generous and making it easy on you with all these clues. Your turn.

\----

 **To:** Pathfinder Ryder  
**From:** Dr Carlyle  
**Subject:** Go ahead, make my day

Sara,

Congratulations on establishing our first viable outpost on Eos. As for Tann, he continues to be a pain in the ass but his petty bureaucracies don’t matter. The more he and Addison continue to squabble the more Kesh and I get done.

The Nexus was rocked by the arrival of the Angara. Lexi’s sent me some fascinating research and I believe their genetic makeup warrants further study. I’ll send you my report when I’m done.

Our medibay will be all the better with Scott out of it - which will eventually happen, I assure you. He shows no sign of waking, although I make a point of stopping by a few times a day to chat to him. For now he is stable and comfortable and his brain activity shows encouraging signs of stimuli.

Take care on Kadara. Sloane is a mean SOB but she gets the job done. The Charlatan I know little of, except the Collective is an outfit along the lines of the Outcasts. Just more charming on the outside from what I can gather. If so, it’s a clever strategy. Why not win people over first before stabbing them in the back?

Harry

Ps  Scarface’s ‘say hello to my little friend’ is an iconic line. Which is the film I presume you meant. You’re going to lose this game if you don’t check things with SAM before you post.

Pps Just so you know, the loser’s buying. I’m looking forward to claiming my prize.

Ppps thanks for putting me off donuts for life

\------

 **From:** Pathfinder Ryder  
**To:** Dr Carlyle  
**Subject:** Do I feel lucky?

I meant to write sooner but Voeld….well it’s done now. I made it habitable just so I can go snowboarding, honest. I’m old school, I know. Liam wants a beach house on Eos but me, I like the snow and cold. Why do I think you’re a skier?

Tann is all in my face, well virtually I guess, over the colony pods. Can’t him and Addison be the grown ups they’re meant to be for once? Tell him to leave me out of it. I’m too busy rescuing Andromeda from itself and saving his worthless beancounting hide to be bothered. I’m not an expert on colonist repopulation, why is everyone trying to involve me? Who is this Jill woman in Podromos? She can stick it hassling my crew about their parenting duties. If she’s so desperate to make babies she can go and find a sperm donor not out there risking life and limb for the sake of humanity. You can tell her that from me for free.

Ugh people piss me off. It’s been a long trip. I hope to be back on the Nexus within the month. You can meet the crew I’ve accumulated along the way. They’re a solid bunch. We’re getting shit done, which is the main thing that matters I guess. The Archon is in my sights, and we’ve more information on the Asari. Oh, and Kadara? Reyes is…interesting? while Sloane’s an uppity bitch who can kiss my ass.

Sara

Ps I know this one! Sudden Impact! Ok but yes, so my first was a fail. But what I wrote was way cooler than Scarface’s line right??! I mean, it’s about us. Friends. You know. What am I writing? I’m going to bed.

Pps thanks for talking to Scott. I know he can hear you, even though he’s sleeping right now. Bastard. Can I swap places with him?

Ppps Mine’s a whiskey. You’re buying for this lady. I never lose.

\----

 **To:** Pathfinder Ryder  
**From:** Dr Carlyle  
**Subject:** You had me at hello

Sara,

Typing this in haste. You’ll be docking in the next couple of days. Get some rest. I’ve told Tann to ground your crew shore leave of two weeks minimum, up to a month if necessary. What you’ve achieved on Eos, Voeld and  Harvarl is nothing short of miraculous, but push yourself this far and you’ll regret it. It’s no joke. I didn’t save you on Habitat 7 only to watch you burn out trying to save the galaxy. Travel to the new colonies, take time out to visit Aya as a tourist.  But you and your team need a break.

There have been a few breakouts of viruses we weren’t expecting to treat which has kept me very busy. Some cross-contamination over to Angara has led to my working in isolation with the patients, but we’ve contained it.

Jill is under Addison’s management so there’s technically not much I can do. I have, however, made it crystal clear to Nexus leadership that interference with the Human Pathfinder and her crew are not to be tolerated. Was worth it, to watch Tann and Addison turn puce.

Scott is fine. Increased neural movement. I think he may wake soon.

Safe travels.

Harry

Ps If you’re a punk then you might be feeling extremely unlucky to be staring down the barrel of Dirty Harry’s gun.

Pps I ski and snowboard, actually. I wonder what other preconceptions about me you have? Here's another I'll correct you on. I never lose either, Pathfinder, even to a lady as unique as you.


	3. Pride Goeth Before....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can't help it. I write long things, no matter how much I try and keep it short. As any reader of Cullen and Lea's story will tell you! Also this is an indulgent chapter in one of my favourite things for my ships to do and I am not sorry at all because it was a blast to write :D 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy <3

‘Lazy sod, wake up already,’ Sara groused to the immobile form lying on the bed. ‘Or give it a couple of hours. I have to go. We’ve only just landed and your sister is in serious need of letting off steam. SAM assures me the VR training suites are a thing of wonder.’

No reply. Not that she was expecting one.

‘Well, you’re fine. I’m not worried, although I miss you…oh fuck it. I do. And now I’ve seen you’re intent on sleeping away till your princess comes to kiss you, I’ll be off. I need to have some space to myself after being cooped up on the Tempest. Oh, and avoid Tann. You’ll understand why, when you meet him. I mean, who the hell wants to have a meeting at 7 in the bloody evening?!’ 

Her twin was still motionless, his brain and body unresponsive to the wider world. Visiting his bedside had been her first port of call the moment they’d landed. She’d not cared how stupid she’d sounded, regaling the latest gossip from the Tempest to her brother to help him recover to wakefulness.

‘Curious to see what you make of this, Scott.’ Sara laughed as she checked the message notification on her omni-tool. ‘Reyes sure knows how to keep things lively. Plus he’s going to help me kick Sloane Kelly’s ungrateful ass out of Kadara Port. So fucking rude…ah…you kind of had to be there I guess. You probably would have told me off. I’m not the diplomat you are. Anyways, later. Don’t do too much while I’m gone.’

She gave a Scott a quick kiss on his forehead, strolling out of the observation unit of the new Nexus hospital and towards the tram.

Not thinking about him. Oh no, nor hoping he might miraculously appear in front of her. It was a hospital after all….

With an irritated flick of her wrist at her wishful mooning, Sara refocussed on the last meeting she’d had before heading back to the relative comfort of the Nexus. A smile lifted her lips. For a guy not much older than her, Reyes Vidal certainly warranted more than a casual dismissal.

If there was one thing Sara was in short supply of in this bizarre new galaxy, it was friends. If being friends also meant indulging in some healthy, harmless flirtation over a few drinks, who was she to argue? That Reyes was hiding far more than he’d chosen to reveal went with the territory. Sara was content to follow his plan for now.  

She slid into the tram, grateful it was empty at this late hour. Rapidly typing a reply to Reyes to arrange their next meeting in a month or so, her eyes slid down to the one communication she’d left unanswered. The real reason for pursuing nothing more than friendship with Reyes. Gorgeous though he was, and no matter how tempting it had been to explore an illicit liaison with the notorious smuggler, Sara’s interest had always been engaged elsewhere.

Not that she’d let either man have the satisfaction of knowing, naturally. Sara didn’t play games. Nor did she answer to any man. Her life was hers to live as she pleased.

She’d not replied to Harry’s last message, an innate caution warning her not to push to far or too fast. The old adage, that the best things come to those who wait, was her rule of thumb when dealing with Dr Carlyle. He wasn’t some callow youth chasing tail. He would take his own sweet time to allow the mutual attraction to build, enjoying every last minute.

Just the way she liked it.

A delightful shiver at that last thought nearly trapped Ryder in another fanciful daydream. She hadn’t even seen him yet. She’d obviously gone to visit Scott before anything else, to reassure herself he was on the mend. Which he was. And if she harboured secret hopes that Harry might make an appearance at Scott’s bedside, or that she casually bumped into him in a hospital corridor, who could blame her?

Laughing at her self-indulgence, she re-read Harry’s end note, fighting back the temptation of sending the response she’d had prepared for the last 48 hours.

‘Fuck it!’

She hadn’t fought very hard this time. The sent confirmation rang loudly in her ears. Licking her lips in nervous anticipation, she scanned through the short email that she’d just fired off, her impatience reaching its peak.

 **From:** Pathfinder Ryder  
**To:** Dr Carlyle  
**Subject:** I’ll have what she’s having

I’m channelling my inner Dorothy. Nexus training suite, weapons of your choice, 20:00.

Whether I’m lucky or not? That depends on you.

S

It was outrageously flirtatious. It was so outrageously flirtatious Sara couldn’t believe she’d gone ahead and sent it. She’d typed it out and deleted it a hundred times over in the last two days. She’d stared at the subject heading of his last email a thousand times more, trying to divine some hidden meaning behind the famous quote he’d given her.

‘Holy shit. I sent it. Now I have to wait for a reply…….what if there isn’t a reply!’

Jerry Maguire had spoken of love in that famous scene. Ever since the email had landed in her inbox, Sara had been tearing herself into knots over whether there was real intent behind Harry’s selected quote.

Or not, of course.

Defeat wasn’t an option. Sara had been absent for three long, often desperate months, the teasing emails from Harry often the only bright spots in an otherwise disastrous arrival in Andromeda. She deserved some fun, even if it went nowhere.

The few face-to-face conversations they’d managed before she departed had been formal, brief affairs. It was only through the hints from their short emails and that fleeting flare of attraction she’d sighted in Harry’s eyes that longago night on the Hyperion which had sustained her. Much-needed hope that Harry and she could be something more one day had kept her warm during long, lonely nights travelling from one planet to another.

Whenever she plunged feet-first into an unknown vault, every time she braced herself against the gore from another bloody, vicious fight with the Kett and Rokaar, she’d flick back through the all-too brief email exchange to lighten her spirits. For all the tedium of driving around the Nomad on another decimated planet, listening to her crew bicker as cabin-fever set in, she’d whisper to SAM to play films to her in her head, picking the perfect line to engage Harry with.

Short though their correspondence had been, the impact the handsome, witty and ferociously intelligent Dr Carlyle had made on her life already was beyond measure. She knew where she wanted to go, and was prepared to wait it out.

Apparently.

The minutes ticked past.

No reply.  

‘He’s a busy man, Ryder,’ she admonished herself, as the tram pulled to a halt.

Shaking her head at her foolishness, she prepared to get off the tram, muttering to herself in irritation.

‘You know, people to revive and treat. While you have your own shit to sort out, Tanns to ign….’

‘Tanns to what, Pathfinder?’  

Sara stared in abject dismay, the word ‘ignore’ fading from her lips as she came face to face with the very last person, well, salarian, she’d been wanting to see.

Sara had been fully intending to skip the debriefing Tann had ordered, in favour of drinking herself into a stupor after her workout if Harry didn’t show. It was easy to dismiss the director of the Andromeda Initiative when she was light years away.

Her boss’ scowl of petulant disapproval remained exactly the same as she remembered.

‘Hey Tann.’ Sara nodded, arms folded as she wondered how fast she could escape without getting into too much trouble. ‘How’s it going? Still hanging on in there?’

 _Oops_.

‘Yes, Pathfinder, still here. Still in charge. There is a hierarchy, may I remind you?’ If a salarian’s lips could pinch together in disapproval, Sara was sure she was watching it right now. ‘Or are you off to conspire to overthrow me? I can’t think of any other reason why you’d ignore my direct summons. Asides for a night on the town, because I doubt you’d go to all this effort just for me.’

Sara had made an effort, true. Even put heels on, for the sole purpose of walking to the hospital – which were currently crippling her. But it wasn’t for Tann’s meeting, obviously. Not that she’d ever admit that she’d put her favourite jeans and jacket on, and even found an ancient eyeshadow and lipstick that survived six hundred years to make up her face.

Nope. It was all for the sole opportunity of looking good in case she randomly bumped into Harry while moseying around Nexus somewhere. As you do.

_SAM? Give me something, anything!_

_The Angaran delegation, Pathfinder. They’ve just arrived. Director Tann is heading to meet them._

_You’re a legend. I owe ya….._

‘Oh Tann, you are such a tease!’ Deciding to brazen her way through the awkwardness and taking a gamble, Sara smiled brightly, taking his arm and leading him firmly to the awaiting tram. ‘They were announcing your arrival at the Cultural Centre only minutes ago. You know you hate being late and we have that much to go over, an hour is just not long enough. I’ve done you a favour by pushing our meeting to tomorrow. All that talking, all that drinking. You’ll be the centre of attention all night!’

Tann stared down at her with suspicion, allowing her to move him onboard. ‘Speeches? Well yes, at dinner, but how did you know? The Angaran representatives have only just docked….’

‘I’m the Pathfinder. It’s my job to know, and to guide the Initiative’s leadership, like right now. All the more reason for you to be there to meet them!’ Sara’s tone brooked no argument, Tann hustled unceremoniously onto the tram before he had time to blink. ‘Take it from me, Tann. The Angarans are sticklers for formality and protocol. Not to mention manners. I told you all of this in my report and on vidcon, didn’t I? Get yourself down there and greet them in person. Believe me, this is far more important than my updating you on the latest lithium supplies or how Gil fleeced Kello at poker yet again.’

‘Well if you insist. But what’s this? You need to control Gil better. We’ll discuss unauthorised gambling tomor -.’

Sara waved cheerily at the now-closed door, speeding away the hapless Initiative leader in the opposite direction she was headed.

_That was close, Pathfinder._

‘Shiny shiny, SAM. Works a charm on the likes of our Director.’

Heaving an inward sigh of relief that her bluff had, miraculously, worked, she headed through the Operations centre of the entire Andromeda Initiative. The hum of voices deep in concentration belied how peaceful this quadrant of the Nexus was, compared to the common areas.

The Nexus had transformed over the past months the Pathfinder team had been away. Half-finished units and loose cables were no more, the Ops and commons areas now complete. She’d heard from Vetra there were some significant delays with living quarters and substandard engineering round a few of the docking bays, but as outsiders wouldn’t ever see them it was deemed low priority.

Refusing to think on Director Tann’s many failings, Sara walked through Pathfinder HQ and arrived outside the training facilities, excitement flaring in spite of her best intentions to remain nonchalant. As Pathfinder, she had unlimited access to some of the most advanced virtual reality simulations to test herself.

The message she’d sent to Harry flashed through her mind, Sara trying not to cringe at how obvious she’d been. Especially as 20.00 had come and gone and he wasn’t here. Crushing disappointment would not win out today, Sara instead forcing herself to remain positive and take the opportunity to train.

‘SAM? You awake?’

‘I do not sleep, Pathfinder.’

‘I’m outside the combat suite. Well, I need to train but I just realised. How the fuck does it work?’

The loud beep of the door after the sensor scanned her retina reminded Sara to step inside. Gawping, she stood stock still for a moment, the size of the facility taking her aback. With a mental nudge only SAM was capable of, she found herself propelled past two sets of huge grey doors to one with a Pathfinder logo on the front.

‘This is impressive. I thought it’d be smaller – how did they hide the space? Pinnacle Station was the only one I’ve attended with the Alliance and that was huuuuge – oh! I have my own locker?’

It had been obvious at least, that she was in the Pathfinder changing area. Simple but functional, she was impressed at the quality.

‘Correct, Pathfinder. All your armour, training clothing and latest weapons are available to you. This training area is for the exclusive use of Pathfinders and senior Andromeda officers.’ Sara was sure SAM was laughing at her.

‘You will remember Pinnacle Station, of course. This seeks to replicate the elite Alliance facility. There are two VR suites. You can choose combat on any known planet or spaceship in both the Milky Way and Andromeda. I will generate the theatre for you. A fully-equipped gymnasium and swimming pool comprise the remainder, for those who prefer realtime facilities. All Andromeda Initiative crew and colonists can access the far larger complex when it is completed. That runs underneath Vortex all the way to the Cultural Centre.’

‘Impressive.’ For some reason, how all the tens of thousands of colonists would stay fit had never occurred to Sara. ‘Quite the investment.’

‘Your father and Jien Garson decided to invest in physical training to maximise optimal fitness and build team cohesion. Exercise is important for physical and mental wellbeing. There are further VR suites reserved for militia training, under Kandros’ authorisation.’

‘Good grief.’ Sara stood back, blinking. ‘I wasn’t expecting this, SAM. This is a literal replica of the Tempest’s weapons room.’

‘With good reason. These are the tools you use in the field. What use would it be if you were provided with substandard equipment to train?’

‘You’re an AI. Have you learned sarcasm already?’ Sara grumbled, slipping off her coat and sighing with pleasure as she slipped the black heels off. ‘Don’t’ answer that. I’ll stick to traditional methods today. Let’s go old school. Royal Marine Commando Centre, Lympstone assault course. Moving and airborne targets, Andromeda wildlife. Ah why not, chuck some Kett in there too. You can go back to sleep now. I’ll shout if I need you.’

‘Yes, Pathfinder. I have instructed the VA who awaits your arrival. Might I remind you to train with the safety on in case of unexpected visitors?’

‘Bye SAM,’ Sara replied with a roll of her eyes, not caring to think on how much SAM had seen of her innermost daydreaming. ‘Give me my brain back. Please.’

‘Dr Carlyle is in a meeting, Pathfinder.’

‘BYE, SAM!’

If that was the echo of an AI laugh echoing around her, Sara chose to disregard it – and the information she’d been given. Her cheeks flaming, she hung her clothes up and folded her underwear away before scraping her hair back into a high ponytail. Ignoring the fact she’d chosen her favourite red lace underwear, she wrestled on a utilitarian sports bra and boring black pants, dragging a boring black vest top over her head and finishing with a pair of boring pair of matching shorts. She hissed with relief as she laced up some sturdy boots, deciding on only the simplest of weapons. In a trice she’d slipped on two matching thigh holsters, one holding an N7 Hurricane pistol and one holding a dagger, a lightweight well-crafted thing of beauty which Jaal had gifted to her.

Hacking and fighting her way through the undergrowth of Harval had been a lesson. The amount of times Sara wished she’d had some daggers handy just to throw in the eyeball of the neverending creepy crawlies, before slashing some more undergrowth away from her face had left her determined to shape up on the most basic of her fighting skills. In so many marines and soldiers these were often lost in favour of the technological advances in Alliance and alien weaponry which virtually shot itself.

Sara, however, had learned in the hard school of Alec Ryder, where hand-to-hand combat and ancient martial arts skills were as valued as the deadly accuracy of her gaze down the sniper’s scope. She was adept at them all, thanks to routinely being put through her paces by an N7. Today, with her relief to be off the Tempest, things had actually worked out quite well.

‘I will not think about that, either!’

SAM’s cheeky parting shot with Harry’s whereabouts had, of course not gone unregistered. In fact, it was all Sara could think of. Pointless to ignore it when her heart lurched with relief that she wasn’t being ignored. When she finished her workout, there would be a message from Harry and then her heart could return to normal….

‘Well, it’s not going to be on the door which says swimming pool is it, Ryder, oh my god! This is not difficult!’

Telling herself to snap out of it was one thing. Doing was another thing entirely. Sara’s levels of anticipation ever since SAM had mentioned Harry’s name were at a fever pitch. Slapping her palm on the scanner, she barged through the other door, relieved to see her basic levels of deducing hadn’t failed her.

‘Verified. Welcome, Pathfinder Ryder. Are you ready to commence the simulation ‘Commando Challenge, Royal Marines’ with additional moving targets?’  

It was one of her and Scott’s favourites, one their father had introduced them too when they’d been young teenagers. A rare moment of time spent with their dad’s attention on them in its entirety had meant the world to a girl struggling to find her place in life, her father rarely present. Now, even though they’d been distant, Sara furious at what had transpired on Earth, she’d made a pledge. To remember Alec for the father he’d tried his best to be.

One day, when Scott was awake, they’d run this together. Today, though, she needed to clear her head and soul, to remember her father on her own terms.

‘Yes. Hit me with it.’

Immediately the empty grey room transformed into the muddy, cold and windy English landscape, one of the world’s toughest assault courses appearing before her. Her skin stung from the lashing rain, her eyes squinted against the chill wind. Eagerly she awaited the klaxon sound, impatient to burn off the nervous energy that had built up in here ever since she’d sighted the Nexus off the Tempest’s port bow.

‘For you, dad!’

The bellow of a horn sounded. Sara didn’t miss a beat as she launched herself into a run, throwing her dagger swiftly at the spitbug springing up immediately in front of her. The satisfying thud of metal dissolving target made her laugh aloud, Sara rolling deftly forward to retrieve the weapon before spinning round and sprinting to plunge into the first underwater obstacle, pistol firing as she shot down a Ryltor.

No time to think, she gasped at the icy water hitting her belly, her elbows scraping on the gravelly bottom of the tunnel she frantically pulled herself through. She was out of the drain and dragging herself up a knotted rope, cursing as her pistol overheated and only narrowly missing the claws of a Kaerkyn as she slashed the creature away from her ankles.

Breathe, aim, fire, run, dodge, throw, retrieve, climb, aim, shoot, scramble, jump, roll, repeat. The pattern for the next hour was set, Sara exulting in pushing herself to her limits without being in fear for her life, or that of her crew. There was no sound aside from her ragged breathing, the howling wind and the discharge from her pistol as she took out target after target. Her arms were beginning to ache, her legs burning and her knees covered in scrapes, but she craved every second.

It reminded her she was alive.

Laughing, Sara embraced the energy and vitality. Her boundless optimism had sustained her since the tragedy of all that had befallen her in Andromeda. The ache deep in her heart had dimmed a tiny these past few months, the loss of her father and the absence of her twin hurting, but bearable. As surely as only a twin knew, Sara was convinced Scott would awaken soon. She and her team had achieved the seemingly impossible and established a foothold in this unforgiving system. Tann was off her back for one night at least. What more could she need, after all?

There was no time to dwell on the other reason, leaving her giddy as a green schoolgirl.

‘Lalalalala come get me, motherfuckas! Wheeee!’

Scaling up the highest point of the course which signalled the finish, she leapt forwards, her feet slamming hard into the log bridge. With a whoop, Sara seized a rope one-handed, swinging across to the wooden platform. Flying through the air, blade high, she waited for the perfect moment to strike the Kett Destined hurtling towards her. With deadly precision, her arm snapped back then released the dagger at exactly the perfect moment to land her strike dead on through the centre of its skull.

‘Hah! Take that you donut-headed freaking lunatic….what the fuck?!’

Right as her dagger landed in the monster, so did another.

‘Amazing singing. Forget being a Pathfinder, you should be on the stage. By the way, how many donuts are you planning on fending off in Andromeda?’

He’d actually come. She couldn’t believe it.

Hard pushed to hide her astonishment, Sara gaped at the figure emerging from the shadows by the door. So shocked she was by Harry’s sudden appearance she forgot to climb down the rope ladder correctly, crashing squarely against the side of the climbing frame before slipping to the sodden grass so fast rope burns immediately appeared across her palms.  

Even peering at Harry through the tears of pain, he was still the best thing she’d ever seen in her life.

‘Ow! What? Donut….no! I’m training. Somewhere I thought was safe! Don’t spring up on me like that!’

‘That’s your excuse? What’s the point in training if it doesn’t prepare you for every eventuality? Or is a Kett Destined going to politely inform you they’re cloaked before shooting at you?’ Harry’s grin and shake of his head at catching her out so easily added the fire of embarrassment to Sara’s face. ‘End simulation, SAM. Devon in the winter is decidedly unappealing.’

‘Yes, Dr Carlyle.’

Immediately the dreary landscape disappeared, a plain room of grey appearing in its place. Sara tried to ignore the fact she was still dripping mud on the floor.

‘Total immersion, Ryder? Hope you bought a mop. Now, let me take a look at those.’

This was not the plan. She was meant to have been cool, calm and collected, wearing her nicest casual-sexy outfit before challenging Harry to a competition. Gal with guns and heels. Slaying it on the range, striking a pose, showing off her legs, boobs and ass to full advantage, throwing the odd seductive smile here and there.  

Not with sweat pouring down her face and soaking her clothes, panda eyes from smeared makeup and covered head to toe in mud, hair matted against her scalp full of God-knew what lurked in the water. Or her hands torn by the rope she’d inexpertly slid down, her ears smarting from a deserved reproof from one of the most senior officers in the Fifth Fleet for failing to hold up her guard and pay attention.

But of course, here she was. Typical Sara Ryder. Close but no cigar. Every damned time.

‘Well, how else do I practice….no, it’s fine, honest - aaaaah….’

_My memory didn’t fail me. He’s so much taller than me._

Two hands, larger and warmer than hers, cradled her right palm shredded from her freefall. Sara was staring greedily as Harry’s gaze dropped to treat her wounds. He was truly here, her incredulous disbelief not abating one jot. Light stubble grazed his cheeks, Sara’s fascinated gaze following the line down his neck, the blend of dark and grey hairs in subtle contrast to the swarthiness of his skin. The green glow emitting from his omni-tool caught the jade flecks in his smoky quartz eyes, Sara swallowing hard as he grinned back at her.

‘Other hand.’ Obediently she raised her left hand to rest in the warmth of his, her right whole once more. ‘You seem surprised at my presence, given you invited me here. Were you that impatient, to start without me? You could have waited at the hospital. I called in on Scott before I left.’

‘Start? What? Oh.’ Stammering didn’t become her, Sara frantically fighting an inner battle to restore her wits. ‘It’s been a long three months. Either being cooped up on the Tempest or trying to dodge bullets planet-side. Or radiation. Or both. I saw Scott. He’s’ fine. You weren’t there. Or here. So I decided to get on with it.’

‘My apologies. It was a complicated surgery, but the technician lives to drill a hole in his leg another day.’

Oh how she’d missed Harry’s husky drawl and caustic humour, reverberating in every bone of her body.

‘Someone drilled a hole in their own leg? Who does that?’

‘Remember the Darwin Awards back on Earth? Believe me, some people are really that stupid. Always have been, always will be. Keeps me in a job so I shouldn’t complain.’ Harry reached into his pack and threw her a towel, gesturing for her to clean herself, and the floor, up. ‘Here. This should help.’

‘Excuse me while I get these boots off. Squelching around in wet socks is so not fun.’ She sat on the floor, scrubbing at herself, beginning to feel better and better as she tried to focus on wiping the floor and not staring in unbridled lust at Harry. ‘So. Hi, I guess? Cheers for the towel?’

‘Welcome back to the Nexus, Sara.’ It was all she could do to stop her bare toes curling in pleasure at the unexpected sound of her name. ‘You've been busy out there. I was curious why you’re so keen to hit the training ground rather than head to the bar when you first docked, but I’m glad you did. And that I came prepared. You do enjoy pushing things to the extreme, don’t you?’

‘It’s just me, my ship and a hefty dose of Lady Luck in this galaxy.’ Sara raised a cocky eyebrow, the devil inside her rising, her wrecked appearance forgotten. ‘So far she hasn’t let me down. Whether my fortunes improve is very much up to you.’

Harry didn’t reply for a moment, a spark of amusement and the promise of….something flickering in his gaze, her heart skittering in response. ‘Lady Luck is a fickle mistress, but I’m fairly certain she’ll exceed my expectations. Happy to oblige, Pathfinder. Are you ready? The sooner we train, the sooner we’ll be in the bar.’

‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ Sara retorted with a grin, her confidence restored, wondering what he had in mind given he too was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. With the most spectacular tattoo running from his lower forearm to where she presumed was his shoulder. Or beyond. She dragged her mind back to the present, refusing to be distracted by Harry Carlyle's undeniable sex appeal.

‘Your choice of weapons, Dr Carlyle. I wonder, does a retired CMO have what it takes to go up against a potential N7 candidate?’

‘Oh yes, I’m positively decrepit. How will I ever cope against the best the Alliance has to offer?’ Harry’s shout of laughter at Sara’s deliberate jibe at their age difference sent shivers of expectation deep in her abdomen. ‘Let’s see if enthusiasm trumps experience. I know you were in the ICT program. Although you’ll have to explain to me how you wound up in the elite marine training corps when you were assigned to Prothean ruins. Either way, I’m sure you’ll be delighted by what I’m proposing.’

‘SAM. Dojo.’

‘Confirmed, Dr Carlyle.’

The dull grey transformed again, this time into a traditional Japanese dojo.

‘Nice.’ Sara nodded in approval. ‘I’ve been training since I was four. I missed having space on the Tempest to practice. Cora is a renshi, but clunking our heads on the bulwarks stopped being fun pretty fast.’

‘I thought you’d like to change things up a bit. Guns are our go-to tool for protection but when they fail, which they often do? We must rely on traditional methods, particularly when faced with the unknowns which Andromeda throws at us.’ Harry gestured towards the ornate weapons locker. ‘Weapons of my choice, I believe. I choose karate with the Bo staff.’

Sara was grateful the staff was involved. Being in such close quarters with Harry Carlyle for any space of time was liable to make her self-combust with pure desire. To her silent consternation, he showed no outward indication of being as similarly affected as she was. Pushing the observation aside, she joined Harry at the edge of the mats, running her hand over the simple weapon.

‘You don’t have to go easy on me just because this is our first time. Rules – full contact, don’t die. Shout if I break one of those bones you keep complaining about.’ She stuck her tongue out at him and caught the bag Harry tossed at her, pulling out her dobok, the red-white obi denoting her hard-fought for ranking. ‘How did you get hold of this? Anyway, I promise not to flatten you too often.’

‘SAM told me where to find it and thanks for your concern,’ Harry replied, laughing outright at her smug tone, Sara trying not to swagger as she walked to the middle of the mats. ‘I’ll try not to fall over too much. Staffs make amazing walking sticks, didn’t you know?’

The traditional outfit still fitted to perfection and fortunately, she’d dried off enough from her earlier efforts to not notice the layers underneath. Her rank had been awarded just before she’d left Earth, despite the shame heaped onto her family name. Deciding Harry was clairvoyant, to pick a specialisation which was easy enough to kit up for over her shorts and top, she inwardly sighed with happiness as she watched him don his dobok. No skipping leg day for Dr Carlyle, she noted dreamily, as muscled legs disappeared into the wide cloth trousers and broad shoulders and powerful arms were wrapped in thick white cotton.

‘Handy to have you around, come to think of it. Seeing as you’re a doctor and all. I’m a sharp student. You’ll have to give me triage instructions so I can tend the worst of your injuries….huh? Shit. How is this even possible!’

She gulped, hoping it wasn’t audible. Harry tied a blood-red obi round his waist, looking at her with a pronounced smirk as he hefted the staff with an assurance only borne out of expertise.

‘Problem, Pathfinder? You’re very quiet. Speechless, one could say.’

‘Ten – tenth dan?’

Harry Carlyle was even more of a karate master than she was.

‘What, karate’s only for frontline soldiers? Us doctors should rusticate in the background? Even we wind up in battle.’ It was Harry’s turn to grin broadly at her discomfort. ’Did I detect a hint of prejudice?’

‘No. Of course not! You were an Alliance officer!’ Sara refused to be cowed, already calculating his strengths and potential weaknesses. ‘Sure, I might have been a bit overconfident, but I’m an 8th Dan! How was I supposed to know that a 10th Dan in fucking Shotokan of all things – the same discipline as me! made it out to Andromeda too!’

‘You, Sara? Overconfident? Surely not.’ Harry controlled his sarcastic mirth much to her relief, Sara automatically responding to his bow as they faced each other. ‘You shoot guns all the time. Pretty damned well, too. I thought you might appreciate the change. Kumite?’

Appreciate was an understatement. Now Sara had recovered from her shock and embarrassment at her premature crowing, she relished the challenge Harry had presented. Not just in the upcoming combat either. He’d clearly been planning this for some time, if the ease at which he’d produced her kit was anything to go by.

Filing that particular nugget of information away for future use, she smiled slowly, her fingers wrapping around her staff. ‘Very well, Vice-Admiral Carlyle. Why don’t you show me what the Fifth’s made of? Hajime!’

It was just as well she’d braced herself, as Harry immediately launched his attack. She jumped high to avoid the swipe of his staff, designed to knock her flat on her back. Instead, she retaliated, striking his left shoulder on her return to the ground. The jarring shudder of wood meeting wood as Harry blocked her counter-strike was barely noticeable, the two of them exchanging a volley of explosively fast blows as they tested each other’s measure.

She’d only had the honour of sparring with a 10th dan once or twice, her own seniority placing her in the position of mentor rather than student. Studying for higher ranks had often left Sara in quiet solitude, practicing moves on her own more often than not given how often she’d been on dig sites. Karate suited her down to the ground, studying ancient cultures whose legacy to this day still held so much relevance.

If she’d realised all at time ago she’d be locked in the highest level of competitive training with the most deliciously gorgeous man who was her equal and more – in the one discipline where she’d been able to hold her head high as she left Earth in disgrace – she’d have headed back to the Nexus sooner.

There was no sound aside from their increasingly laboured breaths and the repeated smack of staffs connecting, the blurred lines of their moves and weapons speeding through the air. Harry, as she’d hoped, was offering her no quarter. They worked the entire space of the floor, Sara not allowing herself to focus on anything else but the decades of practice flowing through her body. Which seemed to have built up, strangely enough, not to utilise her fighting ability in the field but to bring out the very best of her talent by this one man alone.

Their unspoken rule was to disarm, not to disable, in sparring sessions. So far neither of them had found the right angle -

‘Got you!’ Sara shouted in triumph, twisting her staff underneath his, using upwards force and a clever twist to fling his weapon halfway across the room. ‘Owned – ooof!’

Sara had, fatally, allowed her concentration to slip in her premature assumption of victory. Lighting-quick, Harry’s right leg launched a powerful kick to dislodge her staff from her grip, enough for him to follow up with a punishing strike to her left shoulder, the staff clattering to the floor. Before she knew it, she was flat on her front, Harry about to hold the offending arm down with his knee.

‘I don’t think so……oh!’

She’d tried. She’d really tried. Or so she said to herself, the immediate impact of quite how sensual a position she was in sparking all her senses into overdrive.

To recapture the ground she’d lost so quickly, she’d twisted behind her to pull Harry to one side with her free arm. Instead, all she’d achieved was rolling onto her back, Harry simply grabbing both her wrists and pinning her to the floor. While sitting on top of her, one knee pushed up against her windpipe, with the most wicked grin she’d ever seen.

It wasn’t in Sara to move. She didn’t care that she’d lost because of her foolish pride. She didn’t want to move. Ever again.

‘Patience, senpai. I don’t think the student is surpassing the master quite yet. Inspired performance though that was.’

Harry could have held her on the floor of the VR suite forever. She could feel the heat radiating from his body into hers, the strength locked in his grip restrained, perfectly under control. Even more amazing was the long, muscular thigh pressing all the way down her left side, feeling as good as she’d imagined it would when she’d surreptitiously watched him change. The low rumble of laughter was hitting her in every single happy point inside her soul, the sheer pleasure he’d taken in their sparring match reflected in his eyes. Along with respect, admiration and that something she’d seen earlier at the very forefront of all the charged emotions rocketing through them both.

In that moment, she knew she was gone. Harry Carlyle had totally stolen her heart.

‘If this is what it’s like, to stare down the barrel of Dirty Harry’s gun? Well, I’d say I lucked out.’

There was the longest pause, Harry watching her with an intensity that sent flames licking through every single fibre of her being. She wanted to remain suspended in this moment forever, capturing the rugged beauty of his face, trails of sweat down his cheeks, his chest rising and falling from their exertions, his black hair shot through with silver unruly from the amount of times he’d had to roll out of reach of her attacks.

It was perfect torment, waiting to see who’d make the first move after her declaration.

‘Dr Carlyle. Ward 203, paging Dr Carlyle. Attend immediately.’

An anonymous squawk from an omni-tool was decidedly not what Sara had expected.  

‘Damn it! Can’t they – never mind!’

Harry slowly – was it reluctantly? – released her from his hold. He helped her to her feet, both of them taking a moment to formally acknowledge the end of the bout. Sara’s deeper bow acknowledged her defeat and acceptance of Harry’s win.

‘End session, SAM. I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can, if you can let them know.’

‘Does this make you my Sensai?’ she quipped, grabbing her belongings before the two of them walking through the now greyed-out room.

‘About as much as you’d be my Senpai.’ Harry’s grimace had Sara chuckling aloud. ‘Even saying it aloud sounds weird. So how about no?’

‘You’re a good teacher, Harry. The best. It was entirely my mistake to assume I’d won when I disarmed you. Thank you for indulging me and my ridiculous request today, when you’ve got patients waiting for you. I mean, get off the Tempest, go exercise? Not my smartest move. Maybe I should have just left it –.’

They’d reached the corridor and the door to the male changing rooms. Sara was rambling, the energy between the narrow gap between them charged to a fever pitch. Reluctance dogged her steps, Sara loath to end the high of the evening. She was bracing herself to say goodbye, head off on her own and digest all that had just happened.

Before she could wave and retreat with her usual flippant rejoinder, Harry stopped her with a shake of his head, capturing her chin between his thumb and finger with the gentlest of touches. Breathing became an immediate chore, blood rushing to every extremity at a rate of knots as she caught sight of the frank appreciation mingled with regret in Harry’s expression.

‘You aren’t ridiculous. You are talented. Incredibly so, and one of the smartest women of my acquaintance. I’m glad you didn’t leave it. And we won’t leave it so long again, I promise.’ His hand fell, Sara bereft from its absence. ‘Unfortunately, duty calls. I must go. Get some rest, you’ve earned it. I’ll be in touch, Sara.’

With that, Harry was gone, Sara standing immobile in a darkened hall on her own. Stupefied. Ecstatic. Confused. Tired. With a yawn, she shuffled into the Pathfinder’s area, dumping the filthy boots on the floor and replacing the weapons back in the armoury.

‘SAM….oh crap!’

‘Pathfinder. What is the problem? I sense no threats nearby.’

Sara was staring at herself in horror in the mirror. Her dobok was filthy, splashed with mud and grime. As for her face, she resembled a grubby twelve-year old who’d been playing in a puddle, her hair in tangled disarray around her head. Her makeup had indeed smeared, Sara miserably aware she resembled a street urchin.

‘Ah, I – never mind, SAM. Can I pull rank? Can someone come and clean these weapons and sort out my laundry? I can’t face it today.’

‘I will arrange it, Pathfinder. Did you enjoy the VR suite?’

‘Enjoy it?’

How did mere words describe the torrent of emotions she’d just experienced in the space of a mere hour and a half?

‘I did. Good suite. Better than Pinnacle Station. Anyway, I’ll be getting ready and heading back to the Tempest. Could catch up with some sleep now we’re here for a week.’

‘Two weeks, Pathfinder. Dr Carlyle informed Director Tann it is imperative for your crew to rest. You are effectively grounded until then.’

‘Harry did that? I thought he was joking.’ A small smile curved Sara’s lips, recalling some of the hints she’d had from the all-too brief time she’d spent with Harry just now. ‘Two weeks? I can’t say I’m disappointed. Alright, I’m out of here. See you later, SAM, and thanks.’

‘Very well, Pathfinder. One more thing.’

‘What’s that?’ Her exhaustion was kicking in, Sara wearily pulling off filthy clothing.

‘There are trainers in the footlocker beneath your clothes.’

‘I love you, SAM.’ She could have wept, not having to walk all the way back to the Tempest with her heels on. Pointless though it had been to even make the effort.

‘Dr Carlyle left his meeting especially to see you. He wasn’t meant to have been called back, either. I believe someone will be in serious trouble as a result.’

Her heart leapt into her mouth, the implications tumbling through her mind too fast for her to capture the meaning of it all.  ‘He lied?!’

‘Not exactly. Someone did indeed drill a hole in their leg after drinking a cocktail of Angaran and Krogan spirits. They were discussing the outcome of the surgery, which was yesterday.’

‘SAM. You are a pal.’ She grinned, appreciating the effort her AI companion had gone to help her. ‘We will have a talk about boundaries at some point, but today is not that day. I appreciate it.’

‘You are welcome. I shall leave you now.’

The shower was hot, steamy and soothing. Just like Harry Carlyle, Sara giggled to herself. Her world had just been rocked by SAM’s heartfelt attempts at matchmaking. Leaning back against the wall, letting the water flow over her aching self, Sara allowed herself to finally think on the events of the afternoon.

Harry had known she’d specialised in karate on Earth. Who had magicked up her own kit at such short notice? He’d been planning it and, Sara surmised, she’d stolen a march on his strategy by asking him to train with her so soon. How very adaptable he was, to turn her challenge on its head in such spectacular fashion.

He’d left a meeting. For her. He’d not intended on returning.

‘All in all, Dr Carlyle, you might be as smitten with me as I am with you.’

Feeling happier than she had since first arriving in Andromeda, Sara let out a small squeal of excitement, unable to contain herself as she danced round the shower. He wasn’t just interested. He was as attracted to her as she was to him, and right now, she had a whole two weeks to explore exactly where this would go.

Well, she amended. She knew where it would go. All she had to do was persuade Harry to come along for the ride. As she dried herself off, changed and headed back out into the Nexus, she walked in a bubble of expectation. Waiting for Harry’s next message would be hard, but she could develop patience. He was one prize worth waiting for.


	4. In Anticipation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life has, frankly, sucked for the past month but I'm pleased to say that writing has returned at least. I was going to have this as part of a much bigger chapter (which is nearly finished!) but thought I'd post this for now instead. More will follow v soon!

Running a hand through hair so dishevelled he’d long since stopped caring, Harry heaved a sigh of exhausted relief, blinking twice at the report in his hands several times in case he’d read it wrong.

‘The superbug is contained? You’re sure of this, Jan?’ He hadn’t meant to bark the hapless researcher, but sleep had been in short supply this past week. ‘We can’t risk further contamination and our stocks are low on next-gen antibiotics as it is.’

‘There’s a 0.0157% chance of new colonists being infected thanks to that airborne strand of bacteria. We’re in the clear.’ Jan yawned and stretched, shuffling towards the door. ‘Six hundred years is enough for a relatively benign strand to mutate, Harry, even one stemming from common bronchitis. The most advanced purification systems will always miss something and our immune systems need something to fight against to remain healthy. You know this.’

‘I do. First the Angaran quarantines and now this. I’m hoping we’re done with killer mutations for a few months at least.’ Harry scowled down at inventory notes highlighting the perilous state of their medicine supply. ‘Doesn’t address the longer-term issue of our drugs, though. Synthesising replicas isn’t a long-term solution.’

‘You haven’t seen the latest from the Pathfinder? She’s found something on Kadara that might help. Been gathering samples from all over Andromeda and we’ve got some interesting compounds we’re analysing along with data from the Angara. She’s reduced the time to find replica medicines from years to mere months. We’ll be fine.’ With a wave, Jan shuffled off. ‘I’m for bed. This has been one hell of a week. I’m taking tomorrow off. You should too.’

‘Thanks for all your…help.’

Harry belatedly became aware he was speaking to an empty room, the tiredness hitting him as the immediate urgency of the medical emergency ebbed away. For the last week he’d been battling a superbug mutation in the Nexus hospital, leading to the vast majority of wards being placed in isolation. They’d fought round the clock to identify the strain. The trial and error approach of administering a range of antibiotics to dozens of patients infected had resulted in two deaths before they’d hit on the right combination.

But they’d triumphed. His work was done, for a while at least. His time was finally his own.

‘SAM.’

‘Yes, Dr Carlyle.’

‘Inform Tann the hospital is clear, and Addison that she can safely bring colonists out of cryo. We know what we’re fighting and we’ve the means to treat it.’ For the first time in several days, Harry’s lips lifted in a smile. ‘The Pathfinder has delivered the means to combat future infections with local flora. You’re on that analysis, right?’

‘Of course. My preliminary findings await you in your inbox.’

‘Thanks, SAM. How long will the Pathfinder remain on the Nexus?’

He had to ask. Better an AI hear the barely-disguised eagerness in his voice than anyone else.  

‘Departure for Aya is scheduled for tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow!’ He thought he’d have more time. ‘Shit. That’s not the full two weeks they were meant to stay on the Nexus.’

‘Aya is not a war zone, Dr Carlyle. The Pathfinder believes the crew can rest there while they discover more about the vault network from the Moshae.’

‘Very well. Thanks for your time, SAM. I’ll take a look at the data you sent through.’

‘The Pathfinder is currently negotiating with some protestors before she heads to Vortex.’

‘What…SAM? How did you….never mind. I’ll speak to you later.’

‘Good evening, Dr Carlyle.’

Harry couldn’t have sworn to it, but he was certain the AI had deliberately given him unprompted information on Sara’s whereabouts. He had more work to do in disguising his reactions in the face of such sophisticated technology it seemed. Was he truly that transparent?

‘You have to ask, Carlyle?’

With a wry shake of his head, he leant back in his chair and closed his eyes, every single interaction he’d had with Sara Ryder playing through his mind for the thousandth time. He didn’t need SAM to replicate her exuberant laugh. The musical sound resided deep within his heart, Harry able to remember with blinding clarity every single interaction he’d had with the human Pathfinder from the moment their paths had crossed back on Earth.

It was impossible to not notice Sara Ryder. Smart, sarcastic, sassy and stunning, eyes followed her everywhere, even if she hadn’t been the infamous Alec Ryder’s daughter. Harry was no exception. He was hardly made of stone, after all. Nor that old, or so he liked to tell himself.

Strangely enough, age had never been a factor, despite the significant gap between them and her continued teasing. It hadn’t been difficult for Harry to notice Sara’s interest in him went well beyond that of a casual acquaintance. Of course, he’d at first ridiculed the notion, especially given the nature of his relationship with her father, and the deeper motivations of the Andromeda Initiative she still remained ignorant of.

But, in this strange galaxy where the order of things was turned on its head, Harry had decided to take a chance. Never had he been more delighted with a decision. Sara was everything and more than he could ever have dreamed of in a partner. Underneath her barrier of flippancy was a funny, warm-hearted and courageous soldier with the mind of a scholar, fighting without complaint on behalf of him and everyone else in Andromeda. Harry wasn’t sure how a retired Navy dog such as he had caught the attention of such an exceptional and charismatic woman, but he’d be a fool if he didn’t at least try to explore what lay between them.

He’d allowed himself the luxury of watching Sara for a few minutes in the chill of the VR suite. Already aware of how skilled she was in combat, watching her fly through the air, targeting her enemies with deadly precision had been a special experience. She was supremely talented as only an N7 candidate could be, wasted as a peacekeeper. Sara had been one of the rising stars of the Alliance before her career had been cut short by her father’s machinations.  
  
Harry was only human, his admiration of this unique woman growing as every day passed. Their increasingly flirtatious email exchange had cumulated in spectacular fashion. Sara Ryder breathless, flushed and panting from her exertions trying to best him in the dojo arena, covered from head to toe in mud, pinned on the ground between his legs had almost led him to make love to her right there and then. In many ways, it was fortunate they’d been interrupted. She deserved his full attention and the very best he could give, not a hasty tumble on the floor of a VR suite.

‘Who’s doing the seducing anyway, Harry?’

With a rueful chuckle to himself, Harry acknowledged the truth. Sara had neatly turned the tables on him during their long-distance liaison. He’d had his share of romances, a couple of them serious. But no one had affected him to the same extent than the passionate lady who he knew was even, right now, embracing life to the full.

Which begged the question. What was Harry doing here? A week of being stuck in hospital, not able to see her, had not been part of his plan. The moment he finally had some time to spend with her, he was falling asleep in his office.

His fingers tapped out a message on his omni-tool, Harry nodding with satisfaction as he headed to the shower. Tonight, he’d have the chance to properly explore what they’d started stargazing together all those months ago.


	5. Temptation Waits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy N7 Day!

‘Alright alright, nothing to see here. Pathfinder’s explained…..no, I’m not debating….be grateful Tann’s not slamming you all into gaol….’

Harry ignored the commotion, allowing Kandros’ lieutenant to clear the area outside Vortex. He’d no intention of getting involved, even if he technically outranked everyone present. One of the beauties of Andromeda. His old life in the Alliance was six hundred years gone and a million light years away. Rank mattered little on a civilian initiative to explore the frontiers of deep space, only the ability to get the job done.

His responsibilities to his patients were discharged for the night and he and the Pathfinder in question had an interrupted date to complete. His patience had been stretched to the limit this past week, handling clinical issues he’d thought eradicated in the 21st century. Sara had taken up every single last second of his thoughts during the snatches of downtime. Little of the evening remained. Harry intended to make the most of the time he had left.

As he crossed over the threshold into Vortex, his vision adjusting to the muted lighting in the bar and the press of people, Harry heart beat faster, anticipation firing through his veins. He’d been waiting to spend quality time with her for months. Sara to himself at long last, to speak to, spend time with, discover more. To woo, court, date, whatever passed for romancing the most attractive and eligible woman in the galaxy.

Now his chance had arrived, Harry’s carefully-thought out strategy faltered when confronted with the reality that she’d hardly be alone. Refusing to greet her like a stuttering idiot, he headed to the bar for fortification, deciding to plan his approach from the safer confines of Dutch’s bar.

‘Harry.’ Dutch didn’t even need to ask him what to have, a whiskey promptly set in front of him. ‘Too many people in tonight. Don’t expect the best out of the booze when it’s this distracting.’

‘How tragic for you,’ Harry murmured, aware his sarcasm would be lost on the oblivious bartender as his eyes scanned for a white-blonde head. ‘How will you cope with all these customers bankrupting themselves in your bar?’

‘I know, right?’ Dutch’s combination of antisocial and obtuse was legendary. ‘We’re attracting all sorts these days. Even the Pathfinder’s here. Why can’t she find somewhere else to drink? Means more people come to gawk now she’s patronised the place.’

Trying not to laugh out loud at Dutch’s look of disgust, Harry’s ears pricked up with interest. ‘Quite the coup, having the Pathfinder herself indulge at the Vortex. She’s surely not here alone?’

‘No. With two of her crew. The Turian and that bloody card sharp. I only let them in because Vetra gets me the best. Otherwise I’d never let Gil over the threshold again. He had to have been cheating! Who else has such luck at poker?’

Harry’s responding nod was vague, not bothering to reply as his gaze followed Dutch’s irritated gesture towards the very back of Vortex. The crowds thinned slightly, his breath catching as he caught sight of the one person he’d come to see. Sara was sitting with her back to him, Vetra and Gil facing her. A tumble of hair cascading down her back over a red leather jacket was all he could identify from this distance, Sara and her crew unaware of his presence.

Tossing back his drink and giving a wave of thanks to Dutch, Harry wasted no time in heading towards her table, resolutely ignoring the twist in the pit of his belly. It had been a good couple of decades since nerves had struck him when on approach to a date. Not that he minded. Life was there to be lived, said nerves merely a conduit to a heightened sense of anticipation he had long thought consigned to the realm of missed opportunity and hopeless dreams.

Here, in this brave new world, it was high time Harry embraced the potential Andromeda had to offer.

The memory of Sara’s increasingly suggestive emails mixed with an adorable hint of awkwardness strengthened Harry’s resolve as he made his way through the throng. Sara wanted him, that was certain. He’d end up embarrassing himself if he thought too long on the blaze of desire in her glorious sapphire eyes when he’d pinned her down after their bout.

Yet, whether Harry was to be a fling in this bold new universe she was busy uncovering, or something more permanent, he’d yet to decipher.

With a bolt of glaring clarity, Harry found himself praying for the latter. The idea of a few spectacular nights in the bedroom ending as she went on her way to find a new conquest was intolerable. An automatic rejection of the unthinkable, combined with the sudden revelation of his innermost dreams saw him grinding to a halt in the middle of Vortex.

‘Wotcher….oof! Don’t just stand there, mate!’

A drunken reveller stumbling into his side and grumbling as they staggered past dragged Harry back to the present. He’d been so preoccupied in the astounding revelation he’d not noticed he’d almost arrived by her side, able to hear snatches of their conversation. There would be time for him to dwell on the ramifications of his decision later.

His wave of apology went unnoticed, the drunk already lost in the throng. He didn’t care. Something far more interesting was unfolding right before him, Harry giving into the imp inside, urging him to surprise Sara with his unexpected arrival.

‘Shit, that’s hitting the spot!’ He noticed with some entertainment Sara was trying not to choke on a noxious looking substance Gil had poured liberally into her shot glass. ‘I owe you, Vetra, for wangling us off the station early. Seems being a Pathfinder isn’t good for too much in this place aside from filing endless reports.’

‘No sweat, Ryder.’ Vetra’s grin was smug, catching sight of Harry and shooting him a wink when he held one finger to his lips in a silent plea for anonymity. ‘You owe me. So how about it? Who’s the guy you’re dolled up for?’

‘Guy? Oh, interesting.’ Gil had also caught on to his presence, also unable to resist teasing an unsuspecting Sara. ‘Vetra’s right. You hang around in tracksuits off duty, when you’re not living in your armour, but we’re back on the Nexus and you’ve suddenly discovered fashion and makeup. Is that why you wanted me to rewire those fancy straighteners of yours, so they wouldn’t melt your golden locks?’

‘Of course not!’ The telltale creep of red up Sara’s neck was apparent even in the muted light. ‘I needed to feel human again after being dragged through the Scourge backwards. What, I’m not allowed to take pride in my appearance?’

‘Sure, sure. Those are what you humans call skinny jeans, designed to show off some booty. Right, Gil?’ The red creep had snuck onto her cheeks as Vetra hit the mark. ‘I know for a fact there are plasters missing from the first aid kit on the Tempest. Which are currently decorating your feet because those black stilettoes are crippling you as you attempt walking anywhere beyond ten metres.’

‘I’m impressed at your knowledge of human clothing, Vetra. On the right guy I’d watch some booty in skinny jeans, definitely. Quite the shoe collection she has, too. Killer heels emerging in the depths of Andromeda. Just in case of what, I wonder?’ Gil was smirking openly now, Harry alternating between hope all her efforts were aimed in his direction, and crushing insecurity if they were intended for someone else entirely. ‘Oh, and nice top, by the way Ryder. Wasted on me, but I’m sure others will be more appreciative of your more obvious charms.’

‘Fuck you,’ Sara retorted good-naturedly to their ribbing, still blithely unaware Harry was by now standing right behind her. ‘I’m here to have a couple of drinks only because you forced me out of my room, accused me of being boring and threatened to set Lexi and her psychoanalytic babble on me. Sorry to disappoint. I’ll be heading back soon, leaving you reprobates to it.’

‘How disappointing. I had it on good authority the Pathfinder was buying drinks tonight.’

He’d had every intention of giving her a welcoming smile, but being faced with the full force of Sara’s attention abruptly focussed on him rendered Harry temporarily witless.

It was, he belatedly recalled, the first time they’d come face to face in a purely social setting. There weren’t any life-shattering decisions to be made, no death and destruction hounding them as they fled for their lives in a hostile new world. Even the sparring session had only revealed a small part of Sara. Here, to see her laid-back, laughing, swapping banter with her friends revealed yet another side to her personality he’d never experienced before.  

As she turned, those brilliant sapphire eyes regarding him with unmasked delight, he realised with blinding clarity only a lifetime of getting to know Sara Ryder would ever do. He didn’t want a casual fling, nor a few months of friends with benefits, or whatever she’d had in mind.

He wanted all of her. Forever.

‘Harry?’ Sara couldn’t disguise her incredulous disbelief. ‘I thought you were stuck at the hospital under quarantine?’

‘Didn’t we talk about situational awareness? I’m amazed you let me sneak up on you again, Pathfinder.’

If kicking himself was an option right now, Harry would be walloping himself so hard. Every time he saw Sara he gave her a lecture, sounding more like the world’s most boring drill sergeant than a potential lover. He’d never been left floundering for words in the past.

‘True.’ By some miracle, her eyes flashed with humour and something in their depths which made his heart thump faster. ‘But my way keeps life much more interesting.’

‘Didn’t SAM tell you the hospital was all-clear?’ Vetra checked her omni tool before casting Harry an approving look. ‘Hey, Harry. Fancy seeing you here. Nice work on the superbug, by the way. Doctors have many talents in and outside the medibay, it seems.’

He should have guessed their late-night visit to the VR suite wouldn’t go unnoticed by Vetra, of all people.

‘I got the message. Funny, hey Ryder? Might want to have a word with that AI of yours.’ Gil was grinning at Sara’s discomposure, the reason for Harry’s visit to Vortex all too apparent to Sara’s astute crewmates. ‘And yeah, well done Harry. Good to know we can all go get fixed without worrying about Andromeda’s version of MRSA eating our immune systems alive.’

Sara was scowling at her messages. ‘SAM? Seriously? This is big news, why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I did, Pathfinder. It’s right there, at the top of your emails. Perhaps there was a systems glitch.’

‘That’s a general notice….huh? Systems glitch?’ Clearly flustered by Harry’s unexpected arrival and SAM’s seeming malfunction over a routine announcement, Sara forced herself to not begin a row with her AI in front of others. ‘We’ll discuss this later, SAM. And where are you guys off to? I thought we were just getting started?’

‘You’re the one who wants to depart at 6am.’ Gil’s exaggerated stretch and yawn, accompanied by a nod in Harry’s direction, left him struggling to contain a laugh. ‘I need to run some final tests on the drive core.’

‘But you said they were...’ Sara trailed off, her bemused enquiry halted by Vetra’s shrug of dismissal.

‘Oh, last-minute details. Stock check, trade goods. We’ve got this. You relax.’ Vetra patted Sara’s arm in what Harry assumed was meant to reassure, turning to Gil as they walked off. ‘You see us every day. Change of scene’s as good as a rest.’

‘Never let it be said I’m guilty of cramping anyone’s style. I’ll cook you the best hangover breakfast, Ryder. Don’t be good, either, for fuck’s sake. Being bad is way more fun.’

Gil’s cheerful parting shot was halted as Vetra steered him away with a firm grip. With a final wave Sara’s friends disappeared, leaving her alone with Harry at long last. Entertaining though the interlude had been, he was beyond impatient to have her to himself.

Sara was due to depart in a mere handful of hours. Every second spent in her company was precious. Especially when, by all accounts, she’d gone above and beyond to look at her very best on the random chance he might appear. A simple fact Harry was absurdly grateful for, and humbled by, all in one go.

It transpired he was ill-prepared for the full impact an off-duty Sara, dressed to impress, would have on his already heightened senses. For impress she did, beyond Harry’s wildest expectations. It had already been impossible to forget just how pert her ass was in a pair of shorts designed for nothing else but blissful torment of his imagination. Or so he convinced himself.

Except now she’d traded the loose-fitting robes of her karategi for an outfit which had left him floored, reminded in happy detail exactly how damned good-looking she was. Because if one thing was certain in this crazy galaxy they’d landed in, there would never be a woman who could come close to the one before him now.

Sara Ryder filled out a pair of jeans like he’d never seen. The subtle sway of her hips as she came to stand before him, the lines of the leather jacket clinging to the curve of her waist, was all calculated to remind him just how tempting her toned, agile body was when pinned underneath his. He struggled to not let his gaze follow the half-opened zip to the swell of her breasts barely contained underneath, Harry convinced a simple white vest top couldn’t possibly be so downright erotic.

Sara was as busy absorbing every last detail on him as he was. There they stood in the middle of a busy bar, the beat of the music forgotten, both absorbed in each other to the exclusion of anything else.  

‘So.’ Sara eventually broke the stretch of silence, Harry fascinated by the dusky pink of her tongue darting out against the ruby red of her lips. ‘What brings you here, Dr Carlyle? Another rematch? If that’s the case, then you need to down some of that turbo juice Gil just forced onto me to even the odds.’

‘I think I can do better than a packed bar on a Saturday night. And one which doesn’t involve quite so much exertion as our last rendezvous.’  He fought the insane fear arising out of nowhere she’d deny him the pleasure of her company. ‘I owe you, for rushing off. Care to find out what I’ve got in store?’

‘Are you kidding me? I was over the Vortex before I even got inside. Tell Tann to build more bars. It’s good for morale to have multiple options for getting shitfaced.’ She flickered a disinterested glance around the Vortex, gesturing for him to lead the way. ‘Your offer sounds far more intriguing. Lead the way.’

Harry didn’t need any further encouragement, the two of them slowly weaving towards the exit. Idle chatter would have been pointless, the Vortex by now packed to capacity with revellers seeking a brief respite from the hard life on this new frontier. Shouldering their way through the last of the patrons, they at last made it outside.

His hand itched to take hers and hold it, leading Sara to the location he’d arranged especially. Yet even despite the events of their last meeting, not to mention their past communications, he held back. Settling instead for an absent wave in the general direction of their end destination, he had to satisfy himself with falling in step next to her, idly wondering how neatly she’d fit underneath his chin when he’d one day have the chance to hold her close.

‘I have to ask, however.’ Sara was smiling as she broke the silence, although to his surprise her voice held a hint of trepidation. ‘Too much exertion, last time we met? Does that mean I should have found a more sedate activity to see who won the bet?’

‘Tell me that’s a joke.’ She’d had him worried for a split second. ‘I missed having someone of your calibre to pit myself against. Cora’s on the Tempest. Kandros and Kesh are probably the only ones who come close but keeping humans from dying of boredom because of a lack of challengers aren’t high on their list of priorities. We’ve sent leading ex-Alliance figures like Bradley down to the outposts. Even then, no one compares to you, Sara.’

He’d meant to keep it light, the conversation flowing around easy subjects so they could become better acquainted. Of course, he’d failed at the very first hurdle. It was impossible for Harry to remain noncommittal in the face of her genuine concern he’d not enjoyed himself on that incredible evening. Even more impossible, it seemed, for Harry to keep his true feelings to himself.

The returning, tell-tale creep of red staining ivory skin told him she wasn’t displeased with his answer. ‘Well, good. I had a great time as well. It felt good to finally push myself.’

‘Push yourself?’ Harry didn’t hide his curiosity as he led her into the elevator. ‘That’s you, every day, fighting in the most inhospitable terrain under extreme conditions which surpass anything in the Milky Way.’

‘Oh, that. Isn’t this our new normal, Harry? The Milky Way to all intents and purposes no longer exists.’

Harry was astounded by her dismissiveness of the duress she was under, only checking himself at the last minute with a firm reminder he wasn’t her doctor. Nor did he aspire to be, ever, if their relationship was to ever stand a chance. The memory of a bewildered, lonely Sara on the observation deck as the Hyperion limped towards its final docking station was an evening he’d never forget. She needed, above anything else, a friend to help her discover herself in this vast, hostile galaxy. Not another one of his endless speeches.

Fortunately for Harry, Sara was too focussed on the question to notice his slight hesitation. ‘I don’t hold back in a fight, obviously. But there’s a thousand and one risks to calculate and assess. The threat to you, your crew, your ship, your allies. A thousand more questions unanswered, the only logic you can apply in certain situations being down the scope of a sniper’s rifle. When you train, when you practice – you can let go of the….stress, the burden. Be yourself, free in a way that’s not possible in life or death situations and take pride in your abilities.’

‘I think I understand.’

He did, all too well. He’d been there, after all, once upon a time.

Taking advantage of Sara’s distraction as they arrived at the right floor, he steered her to the very end of a newly-completed area. ‘You don’t have to worry about anyone else. Safety’s on. You don’t have to think, just lose yourself in the ebb and flow of practice. It’s a form of moving meditation, karate at least. Which you don’t have the luxury of when in the field.’

‘You do understand. Of course you do.’ Her beaming smile hit Harry somewhere in his solar plexus, leaving him breathless from its impact. ‘You just have to focus on you. And the person opposite you, in karate at least or you’d end up seriously screwed…..Harry, where are we? I thought this wing was still under construction?’

The roof terrace before them was empty, the engineers and builders having departed only a couple of hours ago on his order. Its viewing platform showcased the entirety of the Nexus, set against the breathtaking backdrop of Heleus’ star systems. Far below, thousands of people thronged from a multitude of Council and Andromeda races, newly awoken colonists mingling with seasoned Initiative veterans all working together to make their new lives a success in this strange new universe. Yet the peace and quiet was absolute, their vantage point distant from the bustle beneath them.

The strike of Sara’s heels against the metal floor halted as she looked about her in undisguised astonishment. ‘Holy shit! Is this the private schmoozing space above the Cultural Center Tann’s been carping on for ages about installing? How the fuck did you wangle a pass up here? I’m hardly what Tann ranks as worthy of special consideration.’

‘That, Pathfinder, is a matter of opinion.’

If Sara had thought to query his comment further, she was thoroughly distracted by what lay immediately before them – a tall table along with a chilled bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes. It had been the best he could organise at short notice. Despite there still being lingering signs of building work to finish, Harry was relieved to have found such a unique place to bring her, in a small attempt to make up for his hurried departure from their training session.

‘Let’s just say between us we’ve saved Tann from several enormous headaches. I called in some favours, and this is the result. You’re leaving in a matter of hours and we never got to go for that drink after our training session. Now seems the perfect opportunity to rectify my error.’

Sara didn’t immediately respond, turning to gaze at the galaxy on display before her. Despite her outward calm, a debate was raging inside her mind, seeking an internal resolution she’d yet to agree on.

Harry wasn’t in a rush. Letting Sara have space to draw the conclusions she needed to reach on her own gave him to the opportunity to covertly observe, and admire, just how beautiful she was. Her flawless skin was luminous in the pale light of the evening, her delicate features highlighted by shadows flickering from the candle on the table. She was tired still, that much was evident, yet the slight shade under her eyes merely enhanced her ethereal beauty.

One hand pushed the strands of the fine white-blonde hair out of her eyes he longed to tease his fingers through. Harry allowed himself to absorb every detail contained in the soft oval of her face. A picture wouldn’t ever be the same as a cherished memory such as this.

The quirk of her finely arched eyebrows, dark against the white of her hair. The stubborn set of her chin and jaw, revealing a dogged determination that had seen her survive and thrive in conditions others would have utterly failed in. The upturn of her petite nose dusted with the faintest of freckles, begging for a kiss, Harry fighting to suppress the urge to reach over and press his lips to its tip.

Before he did something incredibly gauche and stupid, like kiss her senseless, Harry busied himself with opening the bottle. The pop of the cork caught Sara’s attention as she turned back. He was glad he’d waited as he caught her expression, a mixture of elation and relief racing through his body. Sara was well aware how much power she could wield, in total control of the direction she wished to take. The confident temptress now across from him standing in just the right pose to show off her luscious figure to full advantage, radiating sexual appeal, once again rendered him momentarily robbed of coherent thought.

The decision for Sara and Harry to become anything more than friends was Sara’s, and Sara’s alone, to make. She appeared to have made it. They would be together, he now had no doubt. All that was left was for them both to enjoy the journey of mutual discovery and arrive at a conclusion bound to redefine pleasure as he knew it.

‘That evening’s interruption was disappointing, to say the least. But as for where I am now? The reality far exceeds my expectations.’ Her glass raised, Sara tilted her head with an enigmatic smile. ‘A toast. To Andromeda. To us, and all the promise of the future.’

‘I can drink to that,’ Harry agreed, the light chime of crystal echoing through the silence as he forced himself into a seemingly casual pose, leaning one elbow against the table. ‘I’m just sorry it’s taken a week to get to the second part of our lost evening.’

‘You’re forgiven. Especially for landing us such a special drinking spot – and with an exceptional vintage too.’ She sipped her champagne, a small sigh of satisfaction escaping her. ‘Oh, wow. Yum. But you haven’t yet told me how you found a cure?’

‘Fortunately, the mutation responded to an antibacterial strain. From simple penicillin would you believe. Unexpected but it got the job done.’ There was no need for Sara to know just how desperate he’d been to escape the pressure of his responsibilities and seek her out. ‘I needed no excuse to get out of those four white walls. Not just for some well-earned downtime. There was only one person I wanted to celebrate with.’

Excitement, nervousness, anticipation, desire. Sara had unwittingly displayed the whole range as the impact of his last words sunk in. Each and every single emotion playing across her expressive countenance was imprinting on Harry’s mind, holding each one close to his heart. That she wasn’t adverse to find out what he had to offer left him alternately astounded and giddy with relief. He needed to remember each stolen minute with Sara, the only form of solace he’d have during the long, endless weeks of the separation which were to follow.

‘Although, I’m guessing you don’t mean those unbelievably tedious meetings with the Nexus leadership team.’ Sara watched him with a slight smile, her fingers toying with the glass’ stem. ‘A man who brings me champagne with a heavenly view, and is my equal…no, better, at karate. Plus, he saves the lives of thousands of people on a daily basis thanks to being the most kickass doctor on either side of deep space. I’m spoilt.’

‘Trading management meetings to appreciate the finer things in life, in the company of a beautiful woman? I’m not the only one being spoilt. Especially when she’s the reason the whole population of Andromeda will have access to the latest drugs.’ Increasingly, Harry was finding it difficult to remember why he’d denied himself the incredible experience it would be to have Sara Ryder in his bed. Steering the conversation into neutral territory was becoming a struggle. ‘Because of you, we’ve found the compounds enabling us to create our own medicines. One of your many achievements. Where’d you locate the plant?’

‘That was hilarious!’ Sara’s laugh was as musical and enticing as he remembered. ‘Did you read the full report? We were trying to find some Godforsaken cave and not die of sulphur poisoning, driving around avoiding murderous outlaws, as you do. Suddenly SAM picks up this beacon from a site which I thought inaccessible. We head in – and it was the absolute last thing we could have expected – but one of the funniest. The friendliest exiles on Kadara, all stoned! So yes, I found you weed, Harry. And Andromeda’s first weed farm. Doesn’t that just make you proud?’

‘It does indeed make me proud. The beneficial compounds of cannabis are legendary, and you’ve found its cousin in Andromeda. You’ve removed a major source of stress for my colleagues in clinical practice and research, by the way. And besides,’ Harry’s voice dropped conspiratorially, ‘Can’t have too many ways to kick back and chill out. All you need are some papers, tobacco. I think I can sneak them past Tann.’

‘What the fuck?’ Sara stared at him in incredulity before the penny dropped. ‘You are the very worst tease! I thought you were going to roll one up right here and now. I take it getting stoned isn’t on your list of extracurricular activities?’

He joined in with her laughter, the final traces of wrenching anxiety which had dogged him for a week disappearing for good thanks to the simple joy of being in her company. ‘No. I may have indulged in my youth on the odd occasion, given there’s sweet fuck all to do in a brand new colony. I may have turned a blind eye to the odd shipment, but that was the full extent of my dabbling in illegal substances.’ Harry laughed at his youthful foolishness. ‘There was no harm in it, but the thrill of being slumped on a sofa giggling at nothing in particular wore off pretty damned fast.’

‘Dr Harry Carlyle.’ Sara raised her glass in a silent salute. ‘Vice-Admiral of the Fifth, Chief Medical Officer. Rule-breaker and one-time smugger of narcotics. Has an encyclopaedic knowledge of cheesy film one-liners. Kicks my ass at karate. Saved my life. We’ve been through so much together, yet we so little about each other. I find myself even more intrigued. Will you indulge me and share a bit more about yourself?’

‘I –‘.

He stopped, at a loss for words from Sara’s unexpected, but perfectly justified question. Harry never spoke about himself, decades of active military service having put a halt on sharing confidences.

‘Who am I? It’s a good question. You’ve had the basics. Serving the Alliance becomes your identity in many ways. I left no family behind, if that’s what you’re wondering. My parents died when I was young, no siblings. No one significant. Not much to show, really, for the nearly five decades I’ve spent alive.’

‘Sure.’ Sara’s gesture of derision told Harry his answer fell short. ‘You halt death in its tracks, Harry. A lifetime of dedicated service, first to the Alliance and now to Andromeda. It doesn’t take a clutch of kids and a ring on your finger to make life meaningful. You of all people should know that.’

‘I do.’ Yet, as he admired the vibrant woman before him, Harry was beginning to realise how barren his life had been before. ‘There’s such a thing as going through the motions. I don’t think I realised what living meant, until I came to Andromeda.’

The faint flush spreading across her cheekbones assured Harry she’d understood the true meaning of his words. ‘I feel alive, here too, in a way that wouldn’t have been possible in the Milky Way. But you still haven’t answered my question.’

He clamped down on his automatic reaction, to tell her she’d have a lifetime to find out.

‘Seeking out new horizons. Pitting my talents against the unknown. Ensuring our fragile population survives in conditions better suited to the 20th century. That’s the big stuff.’ Harry paused, acutely aware of how dull his existence would sound outside of work. ‘I can cook. I play the guitar. Was even in a band once, a bunch of misfits we were. Young marines with time to kill on a lonely frontier getting stoned and making bad music. You get the picture. I like my own company, though. Reading is a favourite pastime. And I can never get enough of stargazing.’

‘Neither can I.’ This is the perfect location for it though.’ She looked across at the now-dimmed light in the commons area, a sigh of disappointment escaping her. ‘Damn, why does time go so fast when you’re having fun? There’s so much I want to ask, but before I know it my pumpkin is going to appear and whisk me home.’

She topped up both their glasses with the remaining champagne. Her reluctance to return to the Tempest, and soon, left Harry both encouraged and resigned. This perfect interlude away from the pressure of real life always had to end, but he was already bereft at her imminent departure.

Quashing the unwanted negativity, Harry held out his hand. ‘The night is not over yet. Stroll with me to the end of the terrace? You can see more of the galaxy from that vantage point.’

Her palm was cool against his, electric sensation sparking up his arm and straight into his chest at Sara’s hesitant touch. She grasped her glass as an afterthought, as affected as he was by what would normally have been the most casual of touches. There was only the barest of distance between them as their hands fell away, Sara as unwilling to be far from him as he was from her.

Only the sound of their steps on the ground broke the stillness, Harry far too distracted by the pure energy flowing around them both. He was hyper aware of every breath she took, each slow step and unconscious gesture.

The shadows grew deeper the further away they moved from the habitable areas of the Nexus, the darkness only punctuated by the blanket of stars now all around them. The seclusion of their surroundings was heightened by the absolute lack of any other person in the vicinity, the night enveloping them in a shroud of intimacy.  

She drew to a stop, leaning against the railing. Instead of being absorbed by the spectacular view, however, her attention was firmly fixed on him. Not that Harry minded. His last vestiges of caution were at risk of being thrown over the balcony.

Far from being dismayed by his lack of self-control, Harry was dangerously close to embracing it.

‘May I propose a toast?’ Shades of gold danced through the champagne as Sara raised her glass. ‘To Harry Carlyle, an exceptional doctor, who not only saves the lives of thousands on a daily basis and makes it look easy, but always seems to rescue this accidental Pathfinder no matter the circumstance. Thank you.’

‘To Sara Ryder. The Pathfinder we need, who is bringing tens of thousands home, paving the way for generations to come.’ Simple words wouldn’t ever convey quite how much Sara now meant to him in such a short space of time.  ‘If it means patching you up on the odd occasion and finding a view for you to appreciate, it’s the very least I can do.’

Given the slow smile spreading across her lips as she gave him a leisurely perusal, Harry had the distinct impression the view she was appreciating lay directly before her rather than beyond the window. Her next words confirmed his guess, the latent fires which had always existed between them the moment they'd met on Earth sparking into a blaze from her provocative words.

‘My current view? I’ve no cause for complaint. Far be it for me to presume, but neither, I suspect, do you. So, tell me.’ Sara leaned closer, causing Harry’s already erratic heartbeat to skip further. ‘Was this officially our first date, Harry?’

‘Our first? Here was me hoping it would be our second.’

‘True.’ Sara’s eyes sparkled with mirth and an unmissable heat, sensing delicious tension straight to Harry’s abdomen at the memory of that night. ‘Close quarters combat. I can think of worse ways to learn more about you. I suspect you felt the same, otherwise you wouldn’t have had access to my kit so easily.’

‘That’s why I thought I’d bring you here. It’s hard to talk when you’re fending off a mawashi geri to the side of the head. But you’re right.’ Harry held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Guilty as charged. I was aware back on Earth how talented you were. I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to train with you out here.’

‘A sparring session six hundred years in the making?’ Sara’s raised eyebrow betrayed her scepticism of his claim. ‘I’m flattered you think so highly of my skills.’

‘Not Sara Ryder’s skills. Sara Ryder.’ Harry decided making her blush was his newest favourite pastime, her expression shifting from doubt to flustered as realisation of his intention dawned. ‘If I’m honest? I’ve waited six hundred years for you. Pathfinder, Kyoshi – these are but fragments of who you are. I'd like tonight to be the first of many occasions where I learn more about the woman behind the titles.’

Caution be damned.

‘Are you doing your best to make me regret my decision to travel to Aya so soon?’ Sara attempted to make light of her irritation at leaving the Nexus ahead of schedule. ‘I figured you were so busy, I should get on with making Andromeda habitable so we can actually have time to play once this is over. Like us becoming friends. Dating. Having a life. My twin awake. I confess, I’m really over this shit and we’ve barely begun. I want so much more, but at times….’

This time, Harry couldn’t stop himself. The vulnerability and loneliness was visible just for an instant, but remained beyond his capacity to ignore. Heedless of whether he made a fool of himself, he moved closer, the heat from her body matching his own. It only took two fingers to tilt her face up to his, Sara’s look of surprise replaced by expectation and a need so elemental it was all he could to force himself to do no more than stand there.

‘There’s always hope. You’ve got this.’ Sara shivered under his gentle touch, Harry allowing himself the luxury of stroking his fingertips across her cheek. ‘Scott will be fine. You’ve got the whole Tempest crew, the Nexus, Prodromos, Taerve Uni – everyone is rooting for you. And me….’

‘What about you, Harry? What do you hope for?’

His pledge to himself to take it slow with this incredible lady nearly ended up in tatters from a single whisper loaded with raw sensuality.

‘I’m already your friend.  I’ve always had your back and I’ll always be in your corner.’ The time for game-playing had long past, Harry clenching his left fist in a failing battle to remain rational. ‘I hope to be so much more. I hope to explore the future, with you. If you’ll let me.’

‘Permission granted.’

All the muscles across his stomach contracted at the feather-light touch of nails tracing the outline of his jaw. Harry presumed his look of wonder matched Sara’s, all his will-power exerted to not bend down and kiss her slightly parted lips. He’d never in his entire life wanted to be with a woman more, yet a kernel of sense remained, Harry’s original determination to not fall into bed with her holding him firm.

He captured her roving hand in his, dropping his gaze as he stroked the sensitive skin on the inside of Sara’s wrist. In one fluid motion he pressed a kiss to the warm pulse. Even as he let her hand fall, her intoxicating scent lingered, hints of jasmine and lotus combined with a uniqueness which was all Sara enveloping his senses.

‘Spoilsport,’ Sara murmured, the flush staining her skin leaving Harry to wonder if she’d look the same when he bought her to a shattering orgasm. ‘Life is short, as is my time on this station. Remind me why I’m standing here and not in your bedroom?’

He wasn’t entirely sure himself. 

‘When I eventually make love to you, it will be when I have the leisure to explore every inch of you properly. I want to take my time. To discover you, mind –.‘ The shiver shuddering through her as he whispered his promise right by a sensitive spot behind her ear, brushing his fingers to her forehead, nearly shredded all his good intentions to virtually nothing. ‘Body, and soul.’ Her sharp inhale of breath as his lips grazed with the lightest of touches the same spot his breath had ghosted over mere moments before, was nearly his undoing.

With a supreme effort, Harry stepped back, his world rocked by how affected they both were by the merest of touches. She was the embodiment of sinful perfection, her eyes darkened to midnight blue through pure lust alone. Sara was biting down on her lip to prevent herself from moving, her nails scoring her palms as she fought to find her own self-control.

‘I will hold you to that, Harry. Don’t disappoint me.’

‘Please do. Is it so wrong to want to get to know you better first?’ Harry’s low chuckle at her pout of disappointment did little to reduce the heady rush raging through his blood. ‘Don’t doubt us, Sara. Our story is at the very beginning. We have the luxury of discovering each other that would have been denied us in the Alliance. I, for one, can’t wait to see where each date takes us.’ 

‘You’re right. And no, I don’t want to hurry either. The best things come to those who wait, right?’ Sara still didn’t move, watching him with an intensity that nearly broke the last vestiges of Harry’s resolve. ‘I’m not going to deny that you’ve left me with a sleepless few nights ahead of me, though. I’m not sure you appreciate just how much of a distraction you are. In the best possible way, of course.’

‘I could say the same about you.’ Harry wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to let on just how often he’d been pulled up by his team, spinning daydreams of endless possibilities far more engaging than the tedium of clinical administration. Now he had the hint of what lay ahead for them both, frequent cold showers would be necessary. The first one in about fifteen minutes.

‘I just….I have to go.’ Sara cast her gaze down, fighting a wave of embarrassment which left Harry mystified. ‘But I…I can’t say goodbye yet, not till I absolutely have to. Would you mind….would you walk with me to the Tempest?’

‘You even have to ask? What kind of sorry excuse for a date would I be if I didn’t walk you back to your – ‘.

He’d need a cold shower soon.

The sensation of soft lips caressing his skin halted Harry mid-sentence. Powers of speech were rendered useless as sparks of electricity shot through his body. Sara had reached up to press the most delicate of kisses on his cheek, a tumult of emotion conveyed through that simple gesture alone.

‘I won’t be able to do that by the Tempest’s docking bay. So, before we leave this magical place, Harry, I’ll say thank you for a wonderful evening.’ She glanced around her as they headed back towards the lift, a wistful sigh escaping her. ‘You’ve set the bar exceptionally high. What am I going to come up with for our next date which will compare to this?’

‘The pleasure is all mine. Leave the planning to me. I’m looking forward to outdoing myself when you return.’ They halted by the lift, Harry as loath to end the night as she was. ‘You’re out there risking life and limb while I find myself in a cushy job far from the action. Let me surprise you.’

‘Deal. I love surprises. The sooner I kick the Archon back to whatever hellhole he crawled out from, the sooner I can get back. To us. To you. Shit.’ Sara scowled at the offending elevator. ‘How dare it arrive so fast. Can’t it break down or something?’

Her heartfelt speech left Harry heartily wishing the same, yet he was determined for the evening to not end on a maudlin note. ‘Look on the bright side. You’ve given me the perfect distraction the next time Addison and Tann fight. Quite the service to this poor doctor I can assure you.’

‘Poor? You? Whatever! Although I’m happy to be of service. I can’t figure out if those two need to get a room or find different jobs several planets apart from one another.’ Sara started to giggle at Harry’s look of unfeigned horror as they stepped into the elevator, bracing themselves to return to normality. ‘What, it’s never occurred to you? I mean, I don’t think they’re actually attracted to each other, but they sure do fight enough for it to be a possibility. And next time Tann throws a hissy fit while Addison spins disasters out of molehills I’m going to tell them. At the very least it might make them shut up.’

‘Guess what? It’s never occurred to me. But thanks for putting that terrible image in my brain? You know, Pathfinder, sometimes people just dislike each other…..’

It was a relatively short walk back to the Tempest, Harry and Sara exchanging banter as they made their way to the docking bay. Undercurrents of anticipation swirled in a maelstrom made all the more potent as they switched, by unspoken agreement, to lighthearted conversation. Harry had a further, ulterior motive. If he could make her laugh, to distract her from the uncertainty she was thrust into day after day, it was worth it to see the amusement sparkle in her eyes. For now, he'd would have to let her go, all too aware the more he fell for the woman of his dreams the harder it would be to watch her fly off into danger time and time again.

That worry, however, was a problem he’d deal with on his own. For now, he was too fixated on the simple, mind-blowing fact she wanted him as much as he wanted her. As Harry waved her goodbye, too all intents and purposes nothing more than friends to the outside world, he hugged the knowledge to himself that she’d said yes. If the painful wrench in his heart refused to quit once the airlock doors slammed shut, Sara no longer in view, no one would ever be any the wiser.

He refused to add to her burdens by pining after her like some lovesick, selfish fool. For now, he was content. This sensuous dance they’d embarked on together had just begun and Harry couldn’t wait to see where Andromeda would take them next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at writing slow burn so bad, as everyone who has read Cullen and Lea knows. I'm sorry. I can't.....two hot, intelligent adults who are attracted to each other, why beat around the bush and waste precious time when they could be having fun!
> 
> Kyoshi - 7th Dan and higher title for a karate master  
> mawashi geri - roundhouse kick


End file.
